This One's Worth Time
by sartiebodyshots
Summary: Mpreg Sartie You should probably read the author's note inside okay?
1. Chapter 1

**Okay so after a throwaway line in one of my sartie week fics my friend Nickeh (omalleygeorge on tumblr) said that I should write an mpreg fic for Sartie. I said no. I'm writing it anyway. Amazing what peer pressure can accomplish. The other peers in this case being Johanna (sartiecreys on tumblr) and Fi (sartietingles here and on tumblr). Fi is also being lovely and reading everything before it's posted/ dealing with my random messages as I get frustrated writing. But yeah this should be a good adventure as I write my first multi-chapter fic. Title is subject to change, but currently comes from the song "Perfect Mess" by Melee. Two more small things: A) This chapter will probably be the only scene with a sex scene B) Chapters and author's notes lengths will vary with my mood/stability. Thanks! **

**Chapter 1**

"Wouldn't you rather have me out of your house for a weekend? The Evanses will feed me, and Sam will even come pick me up. Really, you're winning here," Artie says to his parents.

His mother looks at him and sighs.

"Whatever you want to do, Arthur. Just be safe and don't bother us too much," his father said.

Artie takes this as a victory and just says, "so I won't be home next weekend." He supresses the urge to make a more colorful reply. The last thing he wants is to get his permission for a weekend away revoked. The rest of the dinner is silent except for the sounds of their chewing.

* * *

Sam waits anxiously by the phone. He knows Artie is planning on asking his parents tonight whether or not they can go to Tennessee together for the weekend. They started dating before Sam left, but he left so soon that they mutually decided that while they would keep in contact, they wouldn't owe each other anything. When Sam came back, however, it seemed natural to pick right back up where they left off. To be honest, they had never really stopped dating.

The last time that Sam Skyped home, his parents asked if they could meet Artie. They knew him from going to a couple performances and from him hanging out around the house, but they wanted to meet Artie as Sam's Boyfriend.

Both Artie and Sam are up for it - Sam misses his family; Artie could do with some time away from his. Plus, Sam knows that Artie misses Stevie and Stacy. They had taken care of the kids together a few times, and Artie had taken an instant liking to them. The kids had liked him back, too. While that wasn't particularly shocking, since Stevie and Stacy tended to get along well with people, it made Sam feel a little warm on the inside to see his boyfriend interacting so well with his younger siblings. It led him to imagine some distant future where they might have kids of their own.

His thoughts are interrupted by his phone ringing. It's Artie's ringtone, so he picks up.

"So?" Sam asks.

"They said yes!" Artie says excitedly.

"Really? Were they hard to convince?" Sam says.

Artie sounds like he's trying really hard not to sound sad as he says, "A little. I just had to offer them a whole weekend without me and they were fine."

Sam feels his anger rise up. He hates hearing about the way Artie's parents treat him.

"Well their loss is my gain. We'll have the whole trip there and back to ourselves. Plus, we don't have a spare bedroom for you to sleep in, so my parents said we could stay in the same room. And Stevie and Stacy ask about you all the time. Sometimes I think they miss you more than they miss me!" Sam says.

Artie laughs.

"I doubt that, Sam, you're an awesome big brother. And, yes, this will definitely be a dope ass weekend. I'm nervous about meeting your parents though," Artie says.

"They'll love you. I promise. How could they not? Plus they appreciate the help you give me as far as my essays and math. That alone could win them over," Sam says.

"It's just more official now. Before I was the nerdy friend coming over to do nerdy things with their son. Now I'm the boyfriend coming to do, um, boyfriend things with their son," Artie says.

"Well maybe you shouldn't mention all of the boyfriend things we do," Sam says.

"I am going to word vomit it out all over the place. I know it," Artie says.

"It's okay. I'll bring emergency duct tape or something," Sam says.

Exhaling slowly, Artie says, "That's a relief. Just duct tape right over my mouth."

Sam looks over at the stack of books sitting near the foot of his bed.

"Artie, I hate to do this, but I've got to get through some of this work or else I'll have to spend all weekend doing homework instead of visiting. I'll see you tomorrow. We can work out the fine details then," Sam says.

"Okay, I've got my own stack I should work on, too. Love you," Artie says.

"Love you, too," Sam says, hanging up.

* * *

Artie waits anxiously outside for Sam to come pick him up. He doesn't trust his parents to not revoke their permission for him to go with Sam. At least once he's in the car, there isn't much they can do.

When the car finally rolls up, he hollers inside that he's leaving, and then rolls down the ramp as fast as he can, small suitcase in his lap. Sam already has the trunk open to put his bag in. Then, he wheels around to the front seat, transfers in, and collapses his wheelchair to be stored in the backseat.

"I can help with that, you know," Sam says as he gets in the driver's side.

Artie leans in for their usual kiss hello and says, "No thanks. I like the independence. I like doing as much on my own as possible."

Sam thinks about that for a second as he starts the car and backs out of the Abrams' driveway.

"I get that," he says finally. "Sorry."

"I know what you were going for," Artie says, "And I would appreciate it if people weren't always trying to do things for me. If I need help, I'll ask though."

"Okay. I don't really know how wheelchair accessible our house is these days. I know my parents installed a ramp at the front door, at least. Plus my bedroom is on the first floor," Sam says.

"Oh yes, the bedroom of my dear Sam Evans," Artie says in a grand voice, trying to change the subject. "Is it all dorked out? Full of childhood photos? Your parents probably do have childhood photos lying around. I'm going to have to get a look at some."

He knows that Sam knows what he's doing. But he also knows that Sam knows that there are just some things that Artie will not talk about. Because really, why would he want to ruin their lovely weekend with angsty feelings? In short, he has no desire to.

"I am telling my mother to hide the fuck out of those. I've never seen any of yours, so there's no way in hell that I'm letting you see mine. Oh geez my mom used to dress me in the most horrendous outfits you've ever seen..." Sam says.

He continues speaking and Artie lets himself be lulled by the sound of Sam's voice, only offering the occasional interjection. He knows that Sam is chattering on for his benefit. Artie appreciates it. He knows that he should learn to be more open with, well, really most of what he feels, but it's so difficult and it seems unnatural to him. Maybe he can ask Sam to help him start something with something small. Maybe.

About two hours out, they stop at a gas station. Sam's car needs fuel and so do its passengers. While Sam fills the car, Artie goes inside to get food. The gas station has a limited selection, so Artie just grabs some of the chips and cookies since they're easiest for Sam to eat while driving. None of the drinks in the cooler look appealing, so he buys two cups so he can get something out of the drink dispenser.

When he's paid, Artie rolls outside to find Sam. He's sitting at a picnic table with a couple other people. Artie rolls over.

"...and now we're going to go visit my parents!" Sam says.

Trust Sam to make new friends at a gas stop. When Sam sees Artie, he waves him over. Sam makes the introductions. As it turns out, Josephina and Daniel are moving down south to start a family together. They sit and talk for a while. Josephina and Daniel have a rather interesting history since they got together while traveling in the circus. Daniel can swallow swords and Josephina was a tightrope walker.

"Wait! What are you doing?" Josephina yells at Artie.

Since he's just sitting there listening to the story and drinking his pop, he has no idea what he's done. He looks over at Sam who just shrugs at him.

"Excuse me?" he asks.

She snatches his drink away from him and out of his reach.

"Excuse me!" is Artie's response.

"This is my drink. And it is special. It's got an experimental drug in it," she says.

Panic wells up in Artie. Oh God, is he going to get really sick? Is he going to die? He looks down and realizes that he's drunk almost the whole thing already.

"W-what drug?" Artie asks.

Daniel and Josephina look at each other, clearly having a silent conversation. Eventually, she sighs and leans forward slightly.

"It's a new drug for infertile women. I mean, I have more; it's a drug you take until it works," Josephina says.

"What's going to happen to me?" Artie asks.

Josephina laughs.

"You'll probably just have headaches, dry mouth, that kind of thing for a while," Josephina says.

Artie sighs in relief, glad that he didn't take something that could really mess with him.

"I'm so sorry. I wasn't paying enough attention. Can I buy you another drink?" Artie says.

"Hey! You're only supposed to buy me drinks!" Sam says, leaning over to hold Artie's hand.

"No, that's okay. We have to get going anyway, don't we Daniel? But really, don't worry about it," Josephina says.

"It was nice meeting you," Sam says.

"You guys too," Daniel says.

They wave goodbye and return to the car.

"Are you feeling okay?" Sam says, clearly worried.

"Sam, you don't have to worry about me. I'm sure I'll be fine. I've dealt with worse than headaches," Artie says.

"I know, I know," Sam says.

Artie leans over and kisses Sam on the cheek.

"What was that for?" Sam asks.

"That's the kind of concern that's cute," Artie says. "Now onto the Evans household!"

Soon enough, they arrive. Sam smiles widely when he sees Stevie and Stacy were waiting outside. Stacy runs inside and re-emerges quickly with Sam's parents in tow.

Sam has barely parked the car before he opens the door and runs to his family, embracing them all. His siblings yell and try to tell him everything that had happened while he was gone. He picks them both up and twirls them around.

Artie rolls up to them, but stays a distance away, not wanting to intrude on the reunion. When everyone else has said hello, he rolls up to join the group. The kids immediately leap into his lap.

"Mommy said you're dating Sam!" Stevie says.

"Does that mean you have cooties?" Stacy says. "Or does he have cooties?"

Stacy and Stevie look at their brother with disgust.

"We both have cooties!" Artie says, tickling them both.

They squirm out of his lap and run back to their parents. Artie rolls over to Mr. and Mrs. Evans and offers his hand.

"Hello, I'm still Artie. Thank you for letting me stay," he says.

He cringes because it sounded so much better in his head. They both shake his hand.

"Are you the one who has been defiling my son?" Mr. Evans says with a booming laugh.

Artie laughs weakly and looks up Sam in panic. Maybe Sam should have warned him if his parents were going to respond like that. Sam is just rolling his eyes though.

"Dad, Artie is nervous enough without you making jokes like that. He doesn't know your sense of humour yet," Sam says, coming behind him and absentmindedly putting his hands on Artie's shoulders.

"No, it's okay, really," Artie says weakly.

"We're glad to have you here, Artie," Mrs. Evans says. "We've heard so much about you from Sam. From what he's said, you've made all the changes over the past year a lot easier on him. So thank you."

Artie places one of his hands on Sam's.

"It's been my pleasure, I promise," Artie says.

He looks up at Sam, who looks down at him and smiles.

"We should probably get you all settled in. I'm so sorry, but one of Stacy's friends is sick and we promised we would go visit. We've gotten rather close to the family since we've moved here, so we're all going, but we'll be back in time for dinner. Will you two be okay on your own?" Mrs. Evans says.

"Yes, Mom. I remember where my room is. Nothing has changed too drastically, I'm sure," Sam says.

"Okay, I promise we'll make it quick. And we've got big news for you when we get back," Mrs. Evans says.

"I can't wait," Sam says.

Stacy and Stevie run in for one last hug before they follow their parents into the car.

* * *

Sam leads Artie into the house. He gives a quick tour of the first floor.

"I wanna see your bedroom Sam," Artie whines.

"We're almost there," Sam says.

When they reach his bedroom, he spins around with his back to the door.

"Ready to enter this wonderland of Sam Evansness?" he says.

Artie nods.

Sam opens the door and Artie follows him inside. He's hit with feelings of being home. Sure, he had taken some of his stuff back with him to Ohio, but even though he hadn't had a lot to begin with, he still had had to leave a lot behind. His parents haven't touched anything since he left. The posters are still hanging up on the wall where he left them and random trinkets and trophies from his childhood are spread out on his dresser and nightstand. The only parts of his room that show signs of being disturbed are his bed (fresh sheets) and the old computer he had bought with some of his money (his siblings had obviously gotten bored). He grabs a trophy from when he was in little league and examines it carefully.

"MVP of your team for five straight years? I see you started your life as a sports super star young," Artie says.

He turns to face his boyfriend, who is handling one of his trophies like it is made of glass.

"They're the same as the ones we had in Ohio," Artie remarks absentmindedly.

Sam studies him carefully. Artie is tracing the contours of the trophy with a finger, but is face is unreadable.

"Were you in little league too?" Sam asks softly.

Artie looks up at him, clearly startled. He sets the trophy back in place gently.

"Yeah. Tee-ball. I would guess that the trophies are around the house somewhere. Probably buried. There's an MVP award in there too," Artie says.

Sam crouches in front of Artie. He places his hand on the back of Artie's neck and pulls him in gently for a kiss. Artie responds immediately, practically lunging into Sam's arms. Sam catches him and lifts him up before he can fall. Holding Artie in his arms, he stands up, trying to balance as Artie kisses him deeper. They end up falling into bed together, Sam on top of Artie.

As soon as they land, Sam tries to push himself off because he thinks that he must be crushing Artie, but Artie tangles his fingers in his hair and crushes him even closer. He feels rather than hears Artie's groan. Artie flips them over and Sam is overwhelmed by Artie's sudden aggression. Not that Artie is usually submissive, but he's usually more careful and gentle. Either way, Sam is growing harder and harder.

Artie kisses his way down Sam's neck as far as he can before being stopped by Sam's shirt. He almost rips Sam's shirt off in frustration, but it gets tangled. Sam can't see anything, but he hears Artie take a deep breath before gently helping him take his shirt the rest of the way off. Before Sam can blink, Artie is back to nipping and licking his way down Sam's body. It's sensory overload and as Sam tries to bring his hands up to card through Artie's hair, he realizes that Artie has his arms pinned. Artie suddenly levers himself so he's face to face with Sam.

He pulls his shirt off and leans over so he's whispering right in Sam's ear.

"Fuck me."

Sam leans to the side so he's facing Artie. It takes him a moment before he remembers how to form words.

"We don't have lube?" he says.

Artie raises an eyebrow.

"Are you sure?" Artie asks, flipping himself over onto his back and pointing vaguely to where he put his bag earlier.

Sam gets up and searches through the bag. By the time he turns around, Artie has pushed his pants down near his knees and is lying on his stomach, propped up on his forearms. He groans and undoes his own pants.

The lube is cold when he squirts it onto his fingers so he rubs his hands together to warm it up before slipping a finger inside Artie. He kisses slowly down Artie's back as he adds a second and then third finger. Artie is shaking beneath him.

"Sam. In. Me. Now."

He straddles his boyfriend, covers his erection with lube, and then starts slowly pushing into Artie. When he's all the way inside, he waits so Artie can adjust.

"Fuck me," Artie growls.

Without thinking, Sam listens, pulling out and then thrusting back in. Artie groans and his head falls forward. Sam slows down to make sure he's okay, but the look on Artie's face when he turns to face him let's him know to keep going. He holds onto Artie's shoulders to help him balance. Artie's gone completely silent, but Sam knows he's cumming because he's clenching around him. It only takes a few more thrusts before he's cumming too.

A bit lightheaded, Sam pulls out and collapses next to Artie. Once Artie has turned so he's lying on his back, Sam curls against him. Artie kisses the top of his head and pulls Sam closer.

"I love you," Sam says, breaking the silence.

Artie gently tugs Sam's face upwards for a softly insistent kiss. Sam tries to read the expression on his face. There's definitely happiness, but he's also sure that there's something else. Whatever that something else is, it disappears before Sam can figure it out.

"I love you, too," Artie says, humming softly.

They make sure that they're dressed and put together by the time Sam's parents get home. When Artie rolls into the living room, he notices the album sitting on the coffee table right away.

Sam groans just as Artie positively squeals in delight. He tries to rush in front of his boyfriend to keep him from grabbing the album, but Artie shoves his arm out of the way to claim the prize. In an exaggerated fashion, Sam falls over and splays his arms and legs out.

"After all I've done for you, and this is how you treat me!" Sam says dramatically.

"You can't see me, but I'm rolling my eyes so hard right now," Artie says.

Sam hears Artie place the album on the ground, and then he hears Artie lower himself onto the ground. He wants to see what Artie is doing, but he restrains himself. Artie scoots over and manhandles him into a sitting position against the couch before cuddling against him. When Sam opens his eyes, Artie is grinning back at him, holding up the book.

"We're looking at this. Deal," Artie says.

"You're the worst," Sam says.

Artie opens the album and sees a picture of a young Sam dressed as an elf.

"You started young, I see," Artie says fondly.

Sam sighs heavily.

"Actually... You've discovered my deep and dark secret... I was born an elf," Sam says.

Artie pulls back and gasps dramatically.

"You were born... an elf?" Artie says, whispering his last words

Sam nods gravely.

"Well... I still love you. No matter what," Artie says.

He kisses Sam on the cheek. Sam wraps his arms around Artie to pull him in closer. They flip through the album together, Artie pointing his favorites and Sam telling him the backstory behind them all. Sometimes it would be a made up story, but those were always so exaggerated that Artie knew when he was making shit up. Either way, he'd laugh. Sam had more than a few good stories to tell.

"...and then my cousin grabbed my aunt and threw her into the pool. She almost landed right on top of me! I got confused and grabbed onto my friend's floaty thingy and he got pissed because I flipped him off the raft and he had been trying to stay out of the water-"

"Ahem."

They both look up from where they had been engrossed in the album and in each other to see the rest of the Evans family standing watching them. Artie closes the book and looks sheepishly up at them.

"We got a little preoccupied," Sam says.

His parents are just grinning at them and shaking their heads. Stevie and Stacy rush over and settle in their laps, either telling their own stories or else asking Sam for more details. Eventually, Mr. Evans walks in and tells them all that dinner is on the table.

* * *

Sam runs on ahead with his siblings while Artie scoots over to his chair. He pulls himself up.

"Artie, can I talk to you for a second before dinner?" Mr. Evans says.

"Uh, sure, I guess," Artie says as he figits a little.

Mr. Evans examines him carefully, and Artie resists the urge to shirk back into his chair.

"Now, Artie, I like you and I think that you're good for Sam, at least from what he's told me," he begins. "I just hope you know just how infatuated with you he is. We worry about him, especially with the past couple years..."

Artie expects there to be more, but there isn't.

"Mr. Evans, sir, is this your version of a 'watch out that you don't break his heart or else' speech?" Artie asks.

He considers it for a moment.

"Yes... I suppose so," Mr. Evans says. "Though that is a rather strong way to put it. I just want you both to be careful."

"Thank you, Mr. Evans. I promise that I have no intention of hurting Sam. I'm just about as infatuated with him as he is with me," Artie says.

Mr. Evans nods in approval and claps him on the shoulder.

"Good. In that case, we really are pleased to have you here. I hope you enjoy dinner. Sam told us that you like sloppy joes and so do the kids, so that's what we're having tonight," Mr. Evans says.

Artie follows him into the dining room.

* * *

Sam helps his mom set the table, glad that she took his suggestion for sloppy joes for dinner.

"Good thing tonight is bath night for the kids," his mom remarks. "They're always such a mess after a meal like this."

"Mom... I'm really glad to be back for the weekend. I've missed you all a lot," Sam says while they have a rare moment alone.

She smiles up at him.

"I'm glad you're back for the weekend, too. It's been rough not having you around."

"Is it the money? Because if it's money I have stuff saved up and I can probably get my old job back," Sam says quickly.

His mom shakes her head.

"No Sam, it's not having you around. I know it would have only been another year until you left for college anyway, but I had counted on that year to get ready. Stevie and Stacy both miss you, too. They really look up to you," she says.

Sam wraps an arm around his mom and pulls her close, almost spilling the sauce he's holding on her in the process.

"I'll try to visit more, I promise," Sam says.

She doesn't reply and even though Sam can't see the look on her face, he suspects she's smiling widely.

"Now let's get dinner on the table! Or else they might decide to eat us for dinner instead," she says.

By the time they're done, Artie and his father have both seated themselves and Stacy and Stevie are both bouncing in anticipation. When Sam and his mother sit down, they all bow their heads. Out of the corner of his eye, Sam sees Artie looking around confusedly. He grabs his hand while his father recites a short prayer, saying a special blessing over him and Artie both. Artie smiles a little at that. Once his father his done, everyone looks up again. Artie catches his eye and raises his eyebrow in question. Sam nods back and Artie digs right into his food.

Dinner is mostly a quiet affair at first, but as they all fill up conversation starts to break out. Sam is questioned on his life in Ohio with Hummel-Hudson family, which he's pleased to talk about. A question or two is thrown towards Artie about his home life, which Artie bats away as quickly as he can. His parents look at Sam, but he shakes his head. Really the last thing he feels like doing is explaining to his parents about Artie's parents.

As the meal ends, Sam's mom clears her throat rather importantly.

"Now Sam," she starts.

He groans.

"What?" she says indignantly.

"That's not usually a good sign," he replies.

"Well just you wait to make up your mind about that," she says. "Anyway, your Dad and I have been doing better, financially speaking. But your dad's company is making him move again."

His stomach flutters. What if she's about to tell them that they're moving so far away that he has to move back again. He doesn't want to leave his life in Lima again. Artie finds his hand under the table and squeezes it. They smile uncertainly at each other.

"Even though it's going to be a longer commute than we'd like, we've decided to move back to Lima. We don't want to put Stevie and Stacy into a third school system, and this means that you'll be able to come live with us again. We've found a house. Your room is kind of small, I'm afraid, but we can make it work. We're making the move next month," his mom says.

Sam looks at them in shock. His mind races a month into the future and he doesn't even know what to think. He realizes that he has a huge grin on his face and so does everyone else at the table. Artie squeezes his hand tightly.

"You mean... I get to come home?" Sam forces out.

"Yes, son," his dad booms loudly.

He jumps up and runs around the table to hug his brother and sister close.

"Did you hear that guys? I'm coming back to live with you again," he says.

They both hug him tighter. His parents both get up and join in their hug. Sam catches Artie's eye in the commotion and notices that Artie looks happy, but also wistful as well.

* * *

They're both somewhere between being awake and being asleep when Sam says, "Artie, are you okay?"

Artie yawns widely and turns over so he's facing Sam.

"Of course. Why wouldn't I be?" Artie asks, his voice hazy.

Sam brings a hand up and strokes Artie's face lightly.

"You just looked a little sad earlier at dinner," Sam says.

Instantly Artie wakes up. He tries to form his thoughts into words in his head and turn the words in his head into coherent words. Sam just keeps stroking his face while he thinks and tries to force it together.

"Don't force it," Sam says.

"What?" Artie asks.

"I know this whole feelings thing is difficult for you. More so than for most people. Stop trying to force it and maybe it will come," Sam says.

He closes his eyes to concentrate on Sam's fingers touching his face and on Sam's soft breath against his face. His thoughts begin to coalesce, but when he speaks it's slowly and haltingly.

"I just wish I had had that, growing up... now. That I could be that excited at the thought of seeing my family again, instead of being excited to leave. We were like that once, but then..."

Artie really can't go on, so he just curls in close to Sam, hoping that he knows that it is an unfinished thought. Sam's fingers move to the nape of his neck.

"I'm sorry," Sam murmurs.

He pulls back to look Sam in the eyes.

"No, don't be. None of it is your fault. Actually, you guys give me hope," Artie says.

"Really?"

"If you can still all love each other this way, after being homeless and moving and taking jobs you should never have had to take and now being separated, then maybe when I have kids we'll be a family like that," Artie explains.

"You will," Sam says confidently.

"Maybe, but I don't know if I'll ever find kids as adoring of their older brother as they are of you," Artie says, finally smiling.

"Oh stop it," Sam says.

"No, really. Stacy pulled me aside for a moment while you were doing the dishes and told me that if I ever made you cry that she would be sure to make me cry even more. She even got Stevie to stand behind her and look menacing. I'm scared, Sam," Artie says, deadpan.

Sam laughs at him.

"I can't believe that girl. I'm glad I'm not going to be around for her high school years. You should definitely be scared," Sam says.

"Luckily I currently have no plans to make you cry any time soon, so I should be safe," Artie says, drawing Sam in for a short kiss.

Artie turns around and presses back against Sam. He smiles contentedly when Sam wraps his arms around him and pulls him in closer.

As he drifts softly off to sleep, he murmurs "I love you" to Sam, but that could just be in his head. When he is woken up in the morning, he feels like he might be dying.


	2. Chapter 2

**And here we have chapter two of the fic. Thank you to everyone so far to everyone who has read/reviewed/favorited/put this story on alert/etc. Special thanks to the Sartie Sircle for being the bestest. 3**

The first thing he notices is the fact that he's awake. That sudden realization is obliterated by the searing pain in his abdomen. He can't move and can't concentrate on anything other than the pain. Slowly other things begin to filter in. His lungs burn so he forces them to work. With that pain eased, he can return to cataloging the rest of his body.

He unclenches his fists and does his best to relax as many muscles as possible. His first attempt at sitting up ends with him curled in a ball on his side, so he resolves not to move until the pain has abated. A jolt of panic shoots through him as he realizes that Sam has gotten out of bed already. Since there is no sunlight coming through the windows, he hopes that Sam is just off to the bathroom. He doesn't want to be alone, but he doesn't want to yell and wake everyone up.

Soft footsteps indicate that Sam is coming back. Well, it's either Sam or a serial murderer and Artie is about to die curled up in a ball on his boyfriend's bed. This really wasn't the way he had wanted to go. It was supposed to be something cool and badass if he had to be so young and-

His frantic thought process is cut off by Sam's appearance. His relief is short lived as another wave of pain shoots through him, making him wince.

It doesn't even occur to him to scream because he senses that that would just make everything hurt even more.

At first Sam doesn't notice that anything is wrong. He pads over to the bed and sits on the edge. When he realizes that Artie is taking up part of his half, he chuckles quietly to himself. Gently, he starts to move Artie back to his side of the bed. This sends a shooting pain through Artie's body so grabs Sam to make him stop.

Sam gasps and Artie forces himself to loosen his grip because he realizes that he's gripping Sam so tight he could leave bruises. He lets himself be set back as he was and he curls back in on himself.

Forcing his voice to stay level so as not to alarm his boyfriend he whispers, "Sam, something is wrong. I think... Can you take me to the hospital? Please?"

He can't see Sam from the position he's in, but he hears the panic in his voice when he says, "Okay, just – okay, let me get my parents."

Artie nods. Up until now, Artie hasn't realized how much he's sweating and how hard it is for him to breathe. When Sam walks out of the room he can just barely hear the murmurs of Sam waking his parents up and explaining what's happening over the sound his own ragged breathing.

It isn't long before Sam comes back and lifts him up. Artie doesn't even bother to wrap his arms around Sam's neck. He just burrows in as close to his side as possible. Sam starts to walk out of the room, but Artie protests because he realizes he doesn't have his glasses yet. Sam walks them back to the nightstand. Artie reaches over to grab his glasses and puts them on his face. Sam's arms are still wrapped around him, and he can't help but wince every time Sam jostles him as they head out to the car.

Sam places him in the backseat of the car, but to Artie's dismay he realizes that Sam is staying in the backseat with him and that one of Sam's parents is getting in the front seat. The last thing he wants is to impinge on Sam's family's hospitality. But as Sam starts muttering soothing words to him he decides that he doesn't mind impinging. As it turns out, Sam's brought along a cold cloth and it feels so good on his forehead. Artie tries to find Sam's other hand. When he finds it, he wraps Sam's arm around him.

They sit like that together for the rest of the car ride: Sam muttering soft words to Artie while caressing his brow and Artie curled on his side, whimpering whenever the car hits a bump.

* * *

Sam doesn't even know what he's saying as he wipes his boyfriend's brow with the cold cloth. He just wants to get Artie to the hospital as fast as possible. Artie is feverish and shaking uncontrollably. As she drives, Sam's mom keeps looking back at them. Apparently what she sees concerns her since she speeds up. The streetlights occasionally hit Artie's face and he looks so pale that if it wasn't for the twitching and whimpering Sam would think he was dead.

"Mom, how far away is it?" Sam asks.

He's startled by how much he sounds like a scared little boy again.

"Not too far now, honey. It's going to be okay," she says.

There's nothing else Sam can say because he just wants to get there now because he really doesn't know if it's going to be okay.

When they finally arrive at the hospital, Sam's mom parks at the first spot she can find and runs inside ahead of him. Sam opens the door and gently gets out from under Artie.

"I'm so sorry, Artie, but I think that this is going to hurt," Sam says.

Artie nods and inhales sharply.

"Just do it. I'll be fine," Artie says weakly.

Sam pulls him as gently possible into a sitting position so he can slip one arm behind Artie's back and the other under his legs. Artie screws his eyes shut and leans his head against Sam's shoulder as Sam stands up. He kicks the door shut. Resisting the urge to run to the door, he walks across the hospital parking lot towards the emergency room entrance. Paramedics rush out to him with a gurney.

"Sam Evans?" one asks.

He just nods. Without being asked, he sets Artie on the gurney. They rush Artie inside and Sam just has to watch him go. One stays behind to ask him questions about what happened. Unfortunately, he doesn't have much to say.

The paramedic starts to walk away when, remembering something, he grabs her arm.

"Yesterday we were on a trip together. He accidentally drank some experimental drug. But I mean the woman said that it was for infertile women. Could that be what's causing this?" Sam asks.

"Do you know what it's called?" she asks.

He shakes his head.

"Come inside and talk to a pharmacist. Maybe you'll be able to narrow it down," she says.

Sam follows her inside. Everything feels like a dream and really all Sam wants to do is wake up to find himself curled around Artie.

* * *

When they get Artie inside, they hook him up to machines and an IV. As whatever is pumped into him, the pain starts to recede but everything blurs. He fades in and out a bit. Carts are brought in, and Artie is poked and prodded. A doctor presses down on various parts of his abdomen and it hurts and he tells the doctor but the doctor keeps doing and he just wants him to _stop_. He just wants everything to stop because this is way too familiar.

He loses consciousness.

This time when he wakes up, the pain doesn't hit him immediately. It's distant. They must be medicating him, he thinks. He grabs his glasses off the nightstand and puts them on. Hospital rooms are pretty much all the same, Artie has come to discover. Well, at the very least they're all the same in the respect that he just wants to be free of them.

A nurse comes in to check on him. She looks at him wide-eyed, but refuses to answer any of his questions. All she'll say is that a doctor will be in soon to talk to him.

Artie tries to control his panic as the nurse leaves. Usually nurses give some indication of how serious a patient's condition is. After his car accident, the nurses all looked at him with the pitying eyes and false smiles he soon grew used to. The couple other times he had been in the hospital, the nurses all gave him friendly smiles and even made jokes since his condition was never that serious. This nurse however, she looked almost afraid of him. Or at the very least confused.

There's not much for him to look at, so to distract himself he thinks about possible plans for Sam's birthday. It isn't coming up for a while, but Artie wants to make Sam's 18th birthday special. The plans keep the panic at bay until the doctor comes in.

Artie pushes himself upwards, grimacing at the pain in his abdomen. His eyes widen in shock as the doctor reads out the diagnosis. The doctor starts talking about treatments and options and Artie just stops him and asks for Sam over and over until the doctor nods and leaves.

He stares at the wall, trying to figure out what the fuck he's going to tell his boyfriend.

* * *

After telling the pharmacist everything he can remember, Sam is sent out to the waiting room. He isn't a particularly great waiter. Despite the fact that there are more magazines than he's ever seen together in one place, it doesn't take long before he's thumbed through them all, so he takes to pacing around the waiting room. His mom tries to get him to sit down, but Sam knows he won't be able to until he knows that Artie is okay.

It's been over an hour when his mom tells him that she needs to go get the kids ready for school. She doesn't even bother asking whether or not Sam wants to come home.

"You have my cell phone number. Call if you need anything," she says.

She hugs her tightly before she leaves and then he returns to pacing.

"Sam Evans?" a voice calls out.

He comes to instant attention and has to restrain himself from leaping over chairs to get to the nurse.

"Yes, that's me," Sam says.

"Come with me, please," she says.

Of course, he follows her through the twists and turns of the hospital.

"Is Artie okay?" he asks.

"I think you should wait to talk to him yourself," she says.

Sam is more than a little worried about what exactly that means, but he takes it as a positive sign because at the very least Artie is conscious and able to talk. The nurse brings him to the door and nods him in.

Artie is lying in bed, hooked up to tubes and wires. The machines around him beep out a steady rhythm. His skin is still so pale that Sam is worried, especially since Artie's eyes are closed, too.

As Sam approaches Artie, he opens his eyes. It's fairly obvious that Artie is on some pain killers, but he still looks alert. When he reaches Artie, Sam cups his cheek with one hand and looks down at him.

"Are you okay?" Sam says.

Artie wraps his hand around Sam's and kisses his palm. Then, Artie carefully places Sam's hand down on the bed.

"I think you should pull up a chair," Artie says.

Sam does so and sits. He reaches for Artie's hand again, but Artie pulls away. It kind of hurts, but Sam puts it down to how sick Artie is feeling.

"Just please tell me you're going to be okay," Sam says.

Artie doesn't look at him. He bites his lip and calms his breathing. Sam feels a pit open up in his stomach. What if Artie is about to tell him he's dying of cancer or some other incurable terminal illness?

"Sam, I'm pregnant," Artie says.

The silent stretches out. Sam's mind races because what? It doesn't compute for him. This has to be some kind of joke or mistake or something.

"Please say something," Artie pleads, finally turning to look at him.

Looking in Artie's eyes, he realizes that this is real, or at the very least that Artie thinks it's real.

"But you're going to be okay, right?" Sam asks.

Artie shrugs. This time when Sam reaches for Artie's hand, Artie doesn't pull away.

"What happened, though? I mean isn't this a little impossible? And by a little, I mean a lot impossible?" Sam asks, sounding a little hysterical by the end of his sentence.

"The doctor said it had to do with the drug I accidentally took. I guess it works by stimulating cells to grow into uterus cells? I was kind of confused. But basically when we had sex last night your sperm combined with the drug and it all went super-fast and now apparently there's a baby growing inside me oh my gosh Sam there's a baby inside me," Artie says, definitely growing hysterical by the end of his sentence.

Sam sits on the edge of Artie's bed, taking both of his hands in his own.

"As long as you're not in immediate danger, we can figure out what this is and how to deal with it," Sam says. "Okay, now breathe in and out slowly."

Artie does so, and as his breathing slows he looks a little calmer. He even manages a shaky smile, which Sam returns.

"Okay, now what about the pain?" Sam asks.

"The doctor said that the pain was from my body trying to catch up with where a woman's body would be. Apparently, I'm a couple weeks pregnant," Artie says, his voice getting hysterical again.

Sam squeezes Artie's hands and tells him to breathe again.

"Can you come over here?" Artie asks.

"Yeah, of course," Sam says.

He crawls up onto the bed and carefully maneuvers around the wires. Sam gathers Artie up so he's situated between Sam's legs. Artie leans his head on Sam's shoulder and sighs.

"I was worried that this wouldn't happen again," he says.

"Yeah, me too," Sam says, holding Artie closer.

Artie twists to look him in the eyes.

"I meant that I was worried..." Artie bites his lip. "Never mind."

"You don't have to do that. You can tell me anything," Sam says.

"Sam, I'm a freak. Well, I mean, I was before, but now I'm pregnant. People are going to find out. My _parents _are going to find out. I don't even know how they're going to react, but it won't be good. Probably most people's reactions won't be good. So I was worried..." Artie trails off.

"You were worried that my reaction wouldn't be good," Sam whispers.

His stomach drops as he pulls Artie closer. Sam kisses Artie's cheek. He just wants Artie to know that he'll be there for him.

"I promise you, no matter what you decide to do about this, my reaction will be good," Sam says.

Artie leans back against him.

"The doctors say I can leave later today, if I want. I probably should because I'm not sure how much the insurance covers," Artie says.

Sam sighs at the change of subject and presses his cheek against the top of Artie's head.

Artie waits for the doctors to bring him the final papers so he could check out. Sam is getting his mom's car and bringing it around front. Apparently, his mom had had to leave for a little while, but then arranged it with Sam's father so her car could stay at the hospital. Artie is relieved because he isn't really ready to be in front of others yet. He's used to stares by now, but he knows this will bring about a whole new level of staring once everything is out in the open. Even in the hospital, the doctors and nurses who knew stare at him. He closes his eyes and doesn't feel anything.

He hears Sam enter his room. While Artie isn't the best at recognizing footsteps, patients, doctors, nurses, and visitors walk differently (there are subsets, but that's beside the point), and Sam Evans walks with the slightly hesitant yet ultimately healthy steps of a visitor. Happily, Sam is Artie's only visitor, but this time he's brought Artie's wheelchair along.

When Sam is standing next to the bed, Artie opens his eyes and looks up at him before he can say anything.

"Are you ready to go?" Sam asks.

Artie nods. His stomach hurts, but it's really no big deal at this point. It's nothing more than a reminder.

"Just put the chair near the bed and we can get out of here," Artie says.

He can tell that Sam wants to pick him up, but Artie glares at him until he moves the chair into place and locks the brakes. Artie transfers himself into the chair and starts wheeling out the door. Sam follows behind. A couple of minutes later, they're in the car.

There's awkward silence. Artie looks over at Sam, waiting for him to start the car, but Sam doesn't even touch he ignition.

"Are we leaving?" Artie asks.

"Yeah, sure, in a minute. We're going to need to talk, you know," Sam says.

And Artie knows. He hates it, but he knows.

"Can we find somewhere to eat? We can talk there. I need some real food in me. Technically, I'm eating for two now," Artie says, looking over at Sam.

Apparently, Sam sees something in his face that prompts him to put the key in the ignition and drive. While they ride, the wall separating him from reality starts to fall down. He lets the feelings wash over him for once. Artie is panicked, of course, but he also feels the beginnings of excitement. Even when he was little, he had wanted children. The doctors had said that he would probably be able to carry to term. Maybe he could. Maybe he would.

As they drive by a Denny's, Artie points it out and Sam drives in. When Sam has parked, Artie gets into his chair and follows Sam inside. They are seated in the back of the restaurant. A waiter takes their drink orders and leaves them alone.

Artie peruses the menu. He really is hungry. When the waiter comes with their drinks to take their orders, he orders chocolate chip pancakes with raspberry sauce. Sam ends up ordering a veggie skillet. The waiter takes their menus and leaves them alone.

Sam and Artie stare at each other for a little bit. Artie grabs one of Sam's hands in both of his.

"You wanted to talk," Artie says.

"Yeah... How are you, really?" Sam asks.

All Artie can really do is shake his head and laugh. He is pleased that he doesn't sound too hysterical.

"Well, pretty good under the circumstances," Artie says. "You?"

"Me?"

"Yeah, I mean you kinda knocked your boyfriend up. Way to go," Artie replies.

Sam laughs right back at him.

"Yeah. Oops. I mean when I wasn't sure how my parents would react when I came out I so led with 'at least I'll never knock anyone up.' But I mean, at first I was mostly scared for you. Now though..." Sam trails off.

"Now what?" Artie prompts.

"I don't want to pressure you or anything, but I want to know if you're considering keeping it," Sam says.

Artie bites his lip and looks around, pushing down more panic. He doesn't want to upset Sam, but he reminds himself that the most important thing is that he be honest. Sam loves him after all.

"At first, I really wasn't, but I don't know now. I've always wanted to be a father. And, I mean Sam, this is us. This is you and me," Artie says. "I guess what I'm saying is-"

He's cut off by the waiter bringing them their food. Artie takes a bite while he waits for the waiter to retreat. When Sam nods at him, he continues.

"What I'm saying is that I want to keep the baby. I know it's stupid and crazy, but I do. If something happens and there end up being serious complications, though, I'm not going through with it. I don't know if that was the answer you were hoping for or if you even had an answer you were hoping for, but-"

Sam cuts him off, almost knocking over Artie's drink in his excitement.

"No, that's what I was hoping you'd say. I just didn't want to put any pressure on you because it's your body so your business more than mine, but Artie..." Sam trails off.

Artie's smile grows as he looks up at Sam. He knows that it isn't going to be easy, but he's starting to get excited for what's to come.

"We're going to have to tell people, you know. And they're not all going to respond to us... to me," Artie says, softly.

This is one of his biggest worries. Particularly where his parents are concerned.

"We'll do it together. I'll be there if you want me to be when you tell someone whose reaction you're worried about. If anyone gives you trouble at school, I promise that I'll protect you, and-" Artie cuts Sam off.

"I know you will. Thank you. We should probably start with your parents, tonight," Artie says.

Sam bites his lip and nods.

"We should. You know, if they react okayish, we should probably wait until they move back to Lima to tell anyone there. I mean, with your parents..." Sam says.

Artie heaves a deep sigh.

"You're right. They probably will not react well. At this point, it's just, whatever," Artie says, looking away.

Sam reaches across the table to stroke Artie's face. Artie leans into his hand. He loves how Sam's hand fits his cheek so well.

"We're going to be okay, Artie. We are," Sam says.

Artie nods back.

"Yeah, all three of us."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Sam drives home in silence.

"When do you want to tell them?" Artie asks.

The pause stretches on.

The whole idea seemed easy back in the restaurant when it was just him and Artie. He frowns and drives on.

Artie reaches over and squeezes his shoulder. "Sam?" Artie asks, leaning forward to look Sam in the eye as much as possible while he's driving.

"When we get home," Sam says, with more decisiveness than he feels, but then he continues on timidly, "unless you don't want to be there."

Artie huffs and Sam looks over at him questioningly.

"Unless for some reason you don't want me there, I'm going to be there. And I mean some reason other than you want to spare me the trouble. Sam, if we're going to do this, we're going to do it together. There's no other way this can work," Artie says.

Sam looks over at Artie and smiles. He takes one hand off the wheel so he can hold Artie's hand.

"When we get home then," Sam says. "I'll do most of the talking, though."

Artie nods and squeezes Sam's hand tightly. It helps ground Sam and distracts him from the worst case scenarios running through his head.

When they arrive, Sam looks over at Artie, who is smiling back at him.

"Sam, your parents love you. They support you and us. I doubt they'll be overly thrilled, and they'll definitely be confused, but we'll give them time, okay?" Artie says.

He breathes in and out.

"Let's go now," Sam says.

Artie nods. Sam gets out of the car and goes around to the passenger side to wait for Artie.

When Artie puts his hands on the wheels, Sam interrupts and says, "I know that most of the time you like to wheel yourself, but can I push you? Please?"

Artie nods, but pulls Sam in front of him. Wordlessly, he draws Sam down into a soft, chaste kiss. Sam goes around and wraps his hands around the handles of Artie's wheelchair. He pushes Artie into the house.

As soon as they get inside, Sam's parents rush them with questions. Artie tells them that he's fine, and then Sam says that they need to talk. He can tell that they're nervous. They all go into the living room.

Artie transfers onto the couch next to him and holds his hand.

"Is everything okay?" his mom asks.

Sam bites his lip and nods slowly. He tries to open his mouth to speak, but can't. Artie squeezes his hand and smiles at him. This time when he tries to talk it works.

"You guys are going to be grandparents," Sam tries to sound optimistic and cheery.

They stare at him. He tries again.

"I got Artie pregnant. Accidently pregnant," Sam says.

Their attention turns towards Artie, who waves and nods.

"Yup. I'm pregnant. With a baby," Artie says awkwardly.

Sam explains about the drug and, more uncomfortably for everyone, the sex. He concludes by explaining that they plan on keeping the baby. The pause stretches on uncomfortably long.

"Congratulations?" his dad says hesitantly.

His dad looks over at his mom and she nods.

"We're not overly pleased with the idea, obviously, but we'll adjust," his dad says and a weight lifted off Sam's shoulders.

"Just as long as you and Artie are both okay, we're okay. Or, we will be eventually," his mother interjects. She gets up and hugs them both at once. Sam hugs her back tightly. When she stands back up, his mother looks at the both of them. He sees love, confusion, and even fear in her eyes, but he's just happy he doesn't see anything approaching disgust or rejection.

* * *

They drive home that evening. When they leave, Mrs. Evans not only hugs Sam but Artie as well. He finds it more than a little startling, but he relaxes into the hug. The kids give them both hugs too, and Artie gets a firm handshake from Mr. Evans. Then they're in the car and headed back to Lima.

"The first month or so will probably be the hardest until the end. Possibly the hardest for you," Artie says aloud.

"Really?"

"Well no one will know I'm pregnant, so you're going to end up watching me get hit with backpacks, slushied, locked into porta-potties, and all that other fun stuff, but you won't be able to do a whole lot while also knowing that our fetus is being knocked around. At least not as much as if people knew I was pregnant. Who knows? Maybe people will back off once they know, but until then they obviously won't change," Artie says.

"I will take out anyone who touches you," Sam says angrily.

Artie reaches out to stroke Sam's cheek.

"I appreciate the sentiment, Sam, I really do, but I would rather you be in school with me than suspended," Artie says gently. "You can help me clean off my damn chair after they slushie me. That's a pain in the ass. I'll be fine."

Sam sighs and nods as Artie withdraws his hands.

"Plus morning sickness," Artie groans. "I won't even really be able to yell at people for having things that make me sick around."

Artie is comforted by Sam shooting him a grin and holding his hand.

"Can I at least yell at them for you?" Sam asks with a laugh.

He grins back at Sam.

"Sure. Yell at them all for their nauseating foods," Artie says.

They continue on in silence for a while. Artie mulls over what the hell he's going to say when he tells his parents. They weren't pleased when he told them he was joining Glee club. They were even less pleased when he announced that he was dating Sam. Well, they were pleased when they thought that Sam was short for Samantha. When it was short for Samuel, it just confirmed his parents' belief that Glee club was going to turn him into a 'damned homosexual.' Artie tried to explain that he thought that both men and women were attractive, but then his parents told him to prove it by breaking up with Sam, so he never brought it up again.

He figures that coming home and announcing he's pregnant will confirm their belief that all gays are actually female or something like that. They have some very specific ideas about what a man should be. Even on his best days he can't live up to those standards since he's in a wheelchair. A man should be strong and a protector, able to literally sweep a woman off her feet as well as able to hold his own in a fight and kill lions and all that other good stuff. Their cripple son in the wheelchair couldn't be what they wanted.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Sam asks.

"Don't think you'd want to know." Artie said grimly.

"Artie..." Sam says in that voice that Artie knows means 'Artie I love you and I want to know whatever it is that you think I don't want to know.' It's a voice with which Artie is intimately familiar.

"Parents." Artie responds.

Sam sighs and pulls them over by the side of the road.

"What are you doing?" Artie asks.

He parks the car and undoes both of their seatbelts. Sam climbs over the center to straddle Artie.

"Taking your mind off your parents. You're going to have to deal with them tonight. No sense having to deal with them now." Sam says as he kisses Artie softly.

Artie tries to deepen the kiss, but Sam pulls back.

"Just let me take care of you," Sam says.

Artie pulls back as best he can and shakes his head.

"I'm going to have to be taken care of for nine more months. I've had to deal with people wanting to take care of me for pretty much my whole life. You don't need to take care of me, not now."

He doesn't mean to say that much but the words 'taking care of' translate to 'deal with this burden' in his mind and it bothers him. It hasn't bothered him like this in a while.

Sam doesn't say anything to that.

Artie takes advantage of the silence to pull Sam in for another kiss. This one is all tongue, Sam responding just as Artie wants him to. Yeah, maybe this is just another way that Sam is taking care of him, but at least it's what he needs instead of what someone else thinks he does. He guides Sam so Artie can nip and suck on his collarbone. The noises Sam is making are just what he needs.

As Sam starts running his fingers through his hair, Artie presses the heel of his hand into Sam's crotch and is pleased to feel Sam's erection against him.

"You're going to make me cum in my pants," Sam says between ragged breaths.

Artie pulls back to ask, "Is that okay?

Sam just nods and presses his forehead on the headrest behind Artie. He's using Artie's shoulders to support himself and as Artie presses his hand against him again, Sam lets his arms take more of his weight, pushing Artie against the seat in a way that's almost painful. Artie doesn't mind in the slightest. He goes back to sucking on Sam's collarbones. It's hard to resist the urge to leave a mark behind, but Artie manages. The guys in the locker room tend to tease Sam when he does, especially since they know the marks are left not by a hot girl, but by a nerdy guy in a wheelchair

Artie and Sam fall into a rhythm of Artie pressing up as Sam ruts against his hand. It's rough and as Sam squeezes his shoulders hard, Artie knows it's over. Sure enough, Artie's hand gets sticky from Sam's cum. His ears ring as Sam gets louder and louder, not bothering to hold back since no one can hear him. When he's done, Artie pulls him in for a soft, gentle kiss.

"I love you," Artie says,

Sam sits back as best he's able and strokes Artie's face gently. Artie leans into the touch with his eyes closed.

'I love you too,' Sam replies.

"And you do it so well," Artie says.

Sam smiles at Artie and it warms Artie in a familiar way. The smile is replaced by a frown as Sam reaches for Artie's nonexistent erection.

"That didn't turn you on even a little bit?" Sam asks, sounding worried.

Artie sighs and tugs Sam so Artie can wrap his arms around him.

"The doctors said this might happen. With all the hormones pumping through me, I'm likely to swing between non responsive and insatiably horny. I trust that once the horny hits, you'll help me out with that?" Artie says.

"Happily," Sam says.

"Thank you," Artie says as he kisses gently along Sam's jawline. "And I'm sorry I got angry earlier. You caught me thinking about telling my parents about this. It isn't going to be pretty, at least once they realize I'm not joking."

"I know. But you should know that I don't think about you the way they do," Sam says.

Artie snorts.

"Well for one thing you want up on my dick as often as we can get the privacy," Artie says lightly.

"I'm serious," Sam says. "You're not a thing to be worked around. You're a wonderful person who I'm lucky enough to call my boyfriend."

"We're both lucky," Artie whispers into his ear.

He doesn't like how his voice catches with emotion. He minds less than he normally would because he's with Sam and he minds these things less with Sam.

They sit together for a while like that; Artie wrapping his arms around Sam to pull him close, Sam sitting kind of sideways and covering Artie's hands with his own, head tilted back against Artie's shoulder. Artie wishes desperately that they could stay like that forever, but eventually he sighs and tells Sam that they should get going. Sam grumbles a bit, but nods. He shifts back to the driver's side and plants a kiss on Artie's cheek.

"I'll have you know that having dried cum in your pants is not the most comfortable thing in the world," Sam complains as he starts the car.

"I'd tell you I'm sorry, but I'm not. Wouldn't want to lie to my boyfriend," Artie says with a laugh.

"How kind of you," Sam replies dryly.

"I do try," Artie says.

There's a long silence.

"I could talk to my parents about you moving in with us. If your parents don't respond well," Sam says. He's trying to sound casual, but he doesn't.

Artie leans against Sam's shoulder. This is beneficial in two ways: he gets to lean against Sam and Sam can't see his face.

"I appreciate the offer, I do, but I doubt they'll kick me out."

"It isn't about that," Sam almost cuts him off. "I know they make you miserable, and I doubt it'll get better once they find out. Even if it isn't a permanent thing, just so you'll have some place to go when it gets to be too much."

"It's just a pain in the ass to Artiefy a house," Artie explains. It had only worked this weekend because he had been careful. He can't be that careful all the time. For all the valid complaints he had against his parents, they had provided him with some excellent accommodations.

"We could manage," Sam says.

Artie knows it's useless to argue. Sam will ask no matter what he says.

The rest of the ride home is in silence.

* * *

Artie has fallen asleep by the time they reach his house. Sam thinks it's a shame to wake him up when he looks so peaceful that he drives around the block a couple times. He knows that he has to wake him up though, so eventually he pokes Artie in the side to startle him awake.

"Rise and shine my dear Artie," Sam sing songs.

Glaring, Artie sits up. Sam knows that Artie isn't glaring at him per se; he's glaring at life for making him wake up. Artie possesses many wonderful, admirable traits, but his reaction to being woken up is not one of them.

Sam smiles widely and says in a chipper voice, "Wakey wakey Artie! It's time to get up!"

"They will never find your body," Artie says seriously.

"You love me," Sam says.

"I guess," Artie says deadpan.

They lean in for a quick kiss goodnight before Artie gets out of the car. Artie looks back at Sam with a sigh and then turns back to roll into his house. Sam watches him go sadly. When Artie is back inside, Sam drives back to the Hudmels' house. He just wishes he could shake Artie's parents so they would realize how wonderful Artie is and that maybe (definitely) they should treat him better.

Carole is waiting for him when he gets back. Even though he's exhausted and kind of wants to be alone, he knows that he should talk to Carole.

"Thank you for letting me use your car," Sam says.

"Of course, just let me know if you need to use it again. How are your parents?" Carole asks.

"Thanks for the offer, but I might not need it again. My parents are moving back to Lima next month. Obviously, I'm going to go live with them." Despite the fact that he's exhausted, the excitement creeps into his voice.

"Sam that's wonderful! You just let them know that if they need anything, we're more than happy to help. It's been wonderful having you here, but I know you miss your family. You'll always be welcome here if you want to visit," Carole said. "Now you must be exhausted. Off to bed."

He throws her a grateful smile. Sam knows that if it was anyone else in this house, they would have asked him a million questions. Well, except maybe Finn. Blaine and Rachel are over so often he considers them part of the house too. He goes to the bathroom to clean himself off. Once he's situated in his room, Sam curls up on his bed. There's too much on his mind for him to go to sleep, but he's too tired to do anything more than curl up.

Sam can't wait to move in with his family again, of course. He misses his family already, especially Stevie and Stacy.

When they move back, Sam is going to see about Artiefying the house. He knows that his parents will have given him a room on the first floor, but even if they could just get grab bars and a seat for the bathtub Artie could stay the weekend at the very least when his parents got nasty. Sam pushes away thoughts of Mr. and Mrs. Abrams, as well as thoughts as the upcoming move. Instead, he turns his thoughts towards Artie's pregnancy. He can't believe that he's going to be a father. With Artie. There are just so many things to do and Sam knows that he hasn't thought of half of it. Secretly, Sam wishes that Artie could move in with him, no matter what the circumstances. He wants to be able to help Artie through morning sickness, to feel Artie snuggle up with him at night, and to have Artie there when Sam needs to be reassured that it's going to be okay.

Eventually, he managed to drift off to sleep, still making mental lists of things that need to be done.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hola! Sorry for the delay, I think I forgot how to words for a bit, but it's coming back now! And I just realized that takes out my scene breaks, so I'm going to go back and fix that in my earlier chapters sometime when it isn't 4 in the morning. But yeah, here's hoping you enjoy this chapter!**

**Chapter 4**

Artie wakes up feeling normal. It surprises him. Maybe it's stupid, but he had expected that he would wake up feeling pregnant. He doesn't, though; he just feels like Artie and for a minute he wonders if maybe he had some bizzaro dream. His overnight bag is still packed, so he fishes around inside it. If he pulls out a hospital bracelet, it's true. If he doesn't, he can tell Sam all about the strange dream he had where Sam knocked him up. It really was kind of strange because if either of them was going to end up knocked up, it would probably be Sam.

When he pulls out a bracelet, he nods to himself. It was too vivid to have been a dream, and Artie would have been kind of disappointed if it had been a dream anyway. As long as he feels well, he figures there's nothing to do other than go about his usual morning routine.

* * *

Sam wakes up early the next day. He wants to leave and get to school early, but he knows that Carole would have told Burt and probably Finn and Kurt too. If he gets up early, hopefully he'll be able to move the process along. He showers quickly and goes down for breakfast.

"Good morning, Carole, Burt," Sam says.

Burt turns from where he's cooking pancakes and smiles at him.

"Sam, Carole told me about your parents." He comes around the island and claps him on the shoulder. "You've been a great addition to our household, but it's always best to be home."

"Thanks. It's been great living here, but I really do miss my family," Sam says, adding, "My siblings especially."

"Of course we understand," Carole chimes in. "But you'll be welcome to visit whenever you want."

"What's this about visiting?" Kurt asks as he strolls into the kitchen.

"My family is moving back here, so I won't have to go visit them anymore," Sam explains, grabbing a couple pancakes and heading over to the table. Kurt follows and sits down next to him.

"That's great Sam. Where's your new abode?"

Finn walks in right then, so Sam has to explain it again.

"Sweet dude, when's the move out?" Finn says with a pancake in his mouth.

Sam shrugs.

"I don't have all the details. It'll be around a month though," he says as he munches on his pancakes. "And then I'll be all moved back in with my family."

_And then I'll drop a bombshell and who knows what'll happen then?_ he thinks to himself.

Chatter slowly turns to other matters and Sam stops paying close attention, making the occasional comment.

"So is everyone ready?" Finn asks.

"Yes!" Sam says.

He's been waiting for them to leave. All he wants is to get to Artie at this point. Finn and Kurt shoot him looks as they follow him out to the car.

"Miss Artie already?" Kurt teases.

"Of course!" Sam climbs into the backseat of the truck.

The ride is quiet except for the tap of Sam's fingers on the armrest on his seat. He's anxious to make sure Artie got through the night alright and that Artie is feeling alright this morning.

When they get to school, Sam says goodbye to Finn and Kurt as he jumps out of the car. After he's gotten the books he's going to need he rushes to Artie's locker. He isn't there yet, so Sam stands there awkwardly. It isn't that Sam never hangs near Artie's locker, quite to the contrary, he's there quite often. In the morning, however, there's no good place to stand and wait because everyone needs to get into their lockers, so he has to keep shifting out of people's way.

It isn't long before he's greeted by the sight of Artie wheeling to his locker. When Artie sees him, they wave at each other excitedly. Artie looks tired, but doesn't look too upset. Once Artie is at his locker, Sam leans down for a good morning kiss.

"Alright night last night?" Sam asks.

Artie shrugs as he starts organizing his books for the day. By now the crowd has died down some so Sam can lean on the locker next to him.

"Close enough. Apparently you should have had me back an hour earlier and I don't know what else I tuned out halfway through," Artie rolls his eyes, "On the bright side, I think if we end up married, they'll just adopt you, set you up with a beard, and then get the family life they always wanted. I'll be like the unspoken mistress. It'll be a twisted family, but it'll work for them better than this."

Whether it's a good or a bad thing that Artie can talk like this jokingly and without seeming to be the slightest bit upset, Sam doesn't know, but it always upsets Sam a little bit when Artie is so blasé about his family's attitude. They've told him more than once that they really did like Sam, and if maybe he could teach Artie to be a little bit more, they could come to accept his and Artie's 'peculiar relationship.' What more he's supposed to be teaching Artie, he doesn't even want to know, but he almost screamed at Artie's dad when he said that.

They start down the hall together. Sam and Artie have first period study hall together, and they usually sit in the back, sometimes doing homework or else just hanging out. It was nice because Artie tutored him when he needed it. Other times they hang out with Quinn or Lauren. Both Quinn and Lauren were in study hall with them. Today, the two of them sit together with their chairs and desks pressed right up together so they can talk without being overheard.

"When I woke up this morning, I checked my bag for the hospital bracelet. You know, to see if it happened? In case you were wondering, yeah, it did," Artie says.

"I'm glad," Sam says.

"Yeah," Artie lapses into silence, staring at the wall. "You know, even if we don't end up raising the baby together, this is still going to be a long and probably expensive process. I should probably get prenatal vitamins somehow."

"Wait- what do you mean 'if we don't end up raising the baby together?' I thought we agreed..." Sam trails off.

Artie looks at him in surprise.

"I thought we just agreed that we wouldn't get an abortion. Especially when you said that it was my business because it was my body. Whether or not we give the kid up for adoption is a whole other matter. Although I think I'd want to have an open adoption. Kid isn't getting away from me that easy," Artie says, patting his stomach lightly. "But we might not even be able to raise it. You seem to think I'll be pretty much homeless in a month and we're high school juniors. Your family is just now back on its feet, with three kids to send to college yet. I'm an only child, yeah, but one who could be disowned by his parents by the time this is done. Might not be the best environment for a child."

Sam frowns. He had already begun envisioning a future with Artie and their kid. Maybe it was a little unrealistic, but he still thought it was possible.

"Hey," Artie touches his face to get his attention. "I didn't rule raising the kid together out. It's too soon to decide anything. Just pointed out that this is going to be a long thing. And that I need vitamins. Luckily I need to take a decent amount of pills anyway so I doubt anyone will notice one more." He pulls a face.

"Want me to take you home today? We can walk to a store and then maybe we can go to the park or something? Then I can drive you home after." Sam offers. They tend to hang out together in places other than their houses because Artie's parents make his house a bad place to hang out and as much as he loves the Hudmels, when Finn, Rachel, Blaine, and Kurt are all over it gets a little too loud for both of them. So they go to parks and window shop and basically wherever else they can go for free or close to it.

"That sounds good. It'll be too cold to go to the park soon, especially for me. Pregnant with the flu does not sound good to me," Artie says. "I'll have to make sure to get a flu shot as soon as possible. You should too."

"Maybe they'll have them at the pharmacy," Sam says.

"Hopefully. We're supposed to start getting in contact with high risk pregnancy experts at the local hospital, but I don't know how to do that discreetly. I can't have them calling my house or cell, and they can't call your house. Who knows who will pick up? Can you imagine if Mrs. Hudmel had to go through thinking Finn had knocked his girlfriend up? Again?" Artie says.

Sam doesn't like the idea of risking Artie's health because there's no easy way to get an appointment.

"A cheap pre-paid phone maybe? Like you wouldn't have to tell your parents about it and you could leave the hospital a number," Sam suggests.

"More things to check out at the pharmacy," Artie says wearily.

Sam wraps an arm around Artie and pulls him as close as he can. Artie leans against him, letting his head rest on Sam's shoulder. The teacher glares over at them and Sam glares right back. If Finn and Rachel can make out all the time, he can cuddle with his boyfriend. It isn't like he's giving him a blowjob under the desk or anything. That he could understand the teacher being upset over. Eventually the teacher sighs and turns back to his work. Good.

"Apparently extreme fatigue is a common occurrence during the first trimester. This is good news for you," Artie says, smiling up at him.

Sam arches an eyebrow. "How exactly?"

"It's hard to care about our PDAs drawing attention to us when I'm so tired I could nap right here. You win this round," Artie says sleepily, but with a smile.

"Naps are what study hall is for!" Sam says happily.

It isn't like they don't want to be affectionate with each other, but Artie in particular doesn't like to show it in school because of the bullies. They talked about it and Sam protested that he would be okay and that without Karofsky around their relationship wasn't likely going to incite the bullies into anything. Artie had insisted, worried that the football team would give Sam grief or worse, and of course Sam respected his wishes. The one nice thing about Glee club was that they never worried about PDAs there.

About five minutes before the bell rings, Sam wakes Artie up. He blinks a couple times then sighs. Study hall is the only 'class' they have together. Artie was in a lot of advanced classes, so the only other time they got to see each other during the actual day was lunch. In a strange coincidence, the entire glee club has lunch at the same time.

"See you later?" Sam asks when the bell rings.

"I might not be at lunch, but definitely Glee," Artie replies.

Before Sam can ask what he might be doing, Artie is out the door.

* * *

Artie ends up in the counselling center during lunch. Sometimes he goes in there to chat with Ms. Pillsbury. He isn't getting formal counselling or anything, but he likes talking to her, especially when he's stressed. Just because Artie can't tell her what's stressing him doesn't mean she can't help. Although, even if Artie _could_ tell her what's stressing him, he wouldn't. It's just not how he is.

So they spend the lunch talking about the weather and Sam and she edges near his parents (she knows they're a sensitive subject; she's met them) and since honestly that isn't really what he's upset about she gets more answers than she normally would have.

"Artie?" Ms. Pillsbury says as he turns to leave at the end of the period.

"Yep," Artie doesn't really turn all the way around.

It's a thing that happens sometimes: Ms. Pillsbury gives him a pamphlet she thinks he'll be interested in or some generic advice that makes him grin and roll his eyes good-naturedly. They have a comfortable pattern.

"You're better than that," she says.

"Good bye Ms. Pillsbury," Artie replies, voice tight. This isn't part of the pattern. He knows what he said to set this off, but this still isn't part of the script.

"I mean it. You're not a-"

"Good bye Ms. Pillsbury," Artie says again.

He leaves before she can say anything else. This isn't the first time that he's accidentally said too much. But if he wants to keep Ms. Pillsbury from growing too worried about him, he needs to keep from referring to himself as an 'unwanted spare limb his parents happen to keep around,' even as a joke. It isn't like he thinks of himself like that, most of the time anyway.

He shakes it off and heads to his next class. All this means is that he'll have to put some time before this visit and the next one. No big deal. Still, a queasy feeling starts in his stomach.

Considering it lasts until Glee at the very end of the day, Artie figures that it's probably the beginnings of morning sickness, which apparently isn't limited to the morning.

When he gets to the choir room, he's pleased to see Sam already there. Maybe there's something in his face, but Sam almost leaps out of his chair to get to him quicker.

"Morning sickness isn't limited to morning, I'm guessing," Artie whispers in Sam's ear by way of greeting.

"Are you okay?" Sam asks.

Artie nods.

"It isn't too bad yet. I'm guessing it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better," Artie says as they reach their spot.

Just then, Blaine walks in. As he nods in their general direction, a wave of nausea sweeps over Artie. He clutches Sam's arm and pulls him in close.

"Sam, I think I can smell his hairgel. And it does not smell good," Artie says weakly.

"You're kidding," Sam says, but Artie shakes his head and Sam continues on, "Are you going to throw up?"

"No, I don't think it's quite that bad yet. Whatever is in his hairgel though, it's strong," Artie says.

As more people walk in, he can smell the perfume on some of the girls and cologne on some of the guys. Artie has decided that unscented people are the best kind of people.

"You are not wearing cologne until this passes. Or anything that smells," Artie says.

Sam looks at him questioningly.

"It isn't just hairgel. It's _everyone's _perfume and cologne," Artie says, burying his face in Sam's side and breathing in. Luckily, Sam had always been an unscented boy. He smells nice and clean and doesn't make him nauseous. It is always good when your boyfriend doesn't make you nauseous. Then again, he muses, technically Sam did help start all this.

Mr. Schue comes in right in time to cut off any reply by Sam. They work on a couple pieces that they're thinking of using for competition, and then they're free for the rest of the day. Artie gets out of the room as quickly as possible and into the open hallway. Then he makes his way as quickly as possible to the door with the accessible ramp. When he gets outside, Artie breathes in deeply. The nausea doesn't leave completely, but it does recede, and that makes him feel wonderful.

"Hey," Sam says a couple minutes later, coming out of the school. "Sorry, they kept asking questions about our weekend away and the kids and everything."

Artie pulls him down into a kiss. Sam tastes so good and Artie loves it. Loves him. When he pulls back, Sam looks a little stunned and Artie grins.

"Now let's go get me vitamins! And flu shots! And a prepaid cellphone!" Artie yells out as he pumps his arms hard, waving them in-between each push like he's leading a charge.

It takes Sam a second, but he catches on and runs with him. They're both yelling and screaming until they're laughing hysterically. He pulls Sam in close for another kiss.

"I love you," Artie means to whisper, but ends up kind of yelling as they race on to the nearest pharmacy.


	5. Chapter 5

**You may or may not have noticed the pretty bookcover this fic has now. It's courtesy of the wonderful Nickeh (omalleygeorge on tumblr), who made me a set of gorgeous movie posters. Johanna (sartiecreys on tumblr) also made me a LOVELY photoset. Thank you both and thank you to everyone who is reading/reviewing/screeching in capslocks over on tumblr. It's very much appreciated. **

**Chapter 5**

Artie ends up beating Sam, apparently buoyed by whatever it is that is making him so manically happy. Sam lets Artie lead him to the vitamin section, still kind of out of breath. They stare at what seems to be an infinite number of pill bottles, all offering everything that Mommy and Baby need to be healthy. Artie starts examining various bottles with a frown.

"How are we ever supposed to know which has all the stuff we need?" Artie asks. "Also why do these all say for 'mommy?'"

"Because they are for mommies?" Sam offers, "And I think we need folic acid or something."

Artie whips around and glares at Sam.

"I am not a mommy-to-be or any of that nonsense. I am a dad-to-be just like you," Artie says, grabbing a random bottle and pushing himself angrily down the aisle.

Sam stands there stunned for a minute, and by the time he recovers Artie is out of sight. He looks around the store for Artie, finding him in the cell phone section. Artie is flipping angrily through one of those books that help you compare phones. Sam watches Artie for a second, leaning against a pole. Whenever he gets a little time like this to watch Artie unawares, he's always struck again by how gorgeous his boyfriend is.

"I'm sorry," Sam says as he approaches Artie, "that was a stupidly thoughtless thing to say."

Artie nods and looks up at him.

"I found a good and cheap phone. These actually seem like good vitamins. I think. They have a lot of stuff in them anyway. We'll just check on the flu shots, pay, and then off to the park?" Artie says.

"We can talk there," Sam says.

Artie sighs and nods as he leads the way back to the pharmacy.

"Excuse me, are you offering flu shots at the moment?" he asks a pharmacist.

She leans over the rather high counter so she can see him.

"Yes, just fill out this form giving consent," she says, handing one form over.

"I need another one for him," Artie says, pointing back to Sam.

"Of course," she says as she gives him another.

They fill out the forms quickly and give them back to the pharmacist. She comes around to give them their shots. Artie is first and he hardly blinks as she injects him. As she approaches Sam, he flinches and shirks back into his chair.

"Sam, are you afraid of needles?" Artie asks.

He nods, feeling kind of embarrassed. Even his little siblings have learned not to squirm when getting shots. Artie rolls over to Sam's other side and holds his hand.

"Look at me, not at her." Artie says calmly.

Sam turns his head to look into Artie's startlingly blue eyes. Artie is smiling at him and Sam has always loved Artie's smile, even before he loved Artie, and before he knows it, the pharmacist pulls away and puts the bandage on his arm.

"Good job," Artie says, kissing him lightly.

"Thank you," Sam says.

They go over to pay, and Sam pays for their flu shots without thinking about it.

"You sure know how to treat a guy to a date," Artie says wryly.

Sam laughs.

"And for our next date we can get vaccinated against chicken pox," Sam says.

"I'm going to swoon," Artie says.

They reach the counter and Artie pays for the other stuff. He asks Sam to tuck it into his backpack and Sam does so. They walk out of the store silently together.

"So, do you want to talk?" Sam asks hesitantly once they were a little down the road.

"No, you want to talk," Artie says.

"Okay then..." Sam tries to figure out what to say, "I know that I shouldn't've said what I did, but you very rarely lose your temper like that. Especially with me."

"It isn't that I don't lose my temper with you. Actually I probably vocalize when I get upset with you more than with anyone else," Artie muses, "Not that it happens often. Anyways, I mean, am I girl now? I don't have any problems with girls, but I don't want to be one. I don't want people telling me I am one because I'm not. At least… I don't think I am. They will say things, I know, but I've had a lot of practice with people saying things. If it's you saying it though..." he shrugs, "what if it's true? What does that even mean for me?"

They have made the park and Sam sits down on the edge of a bench, Artie in his chair next to him. Sam reaches over for Artie's hand and is pleased when Artie lets him take it.

"Artie, what I said was thoughtless and careless. You're definitely not a girl, Artie; no matter what anyone says in the months to come. You're a man, trust me. Being pregnant doesn't change that," Sam says.

"But..." Artie trails off. "Never mind."

"Listen to me. You can talk to me. You're supposed to talk to me; I'm your boyfriend," Sam says, managing to keep his slight annoyance out of his voice. He loves Artie, but sometimes talking to him like this is so frustrating.

"It makes me uncomfortable. It scares me," Artie says softly.

"What does?" Sam asks, knowing he has to coax the answers he wants out of Artie slowly. As long as Artie keeps talking, though, Sam is willing to be patient.

"You," Artie's voice is so quiet that Sam isn't sure he's heard him properly at first, but then he knows that's what Artie said by the look on his face.

"Why?" Sam asks. Now they're both talking in soft voices because Sam's kind of scared of what Artie will tell him.

"What if one day you decide you're sick of my complaining and whining? If I don't whine and complain like this, then maybe you'll stay," Artie says, squeezing Sam's hand tightly.

"Oh Artie..." Sam says, reaching out a hand to turn Artie's face towards him, "I'm not going to get sick of you. I'm staying and I will stay because I want to be with you and I love you. The things you tell me only make me love you more."

Artie surprises him by pulling him over into his lap and kissing him. He runs his fingers through Sam's hair and Sam hums at the feel of those lithe fingers. Sam pulls back.

"You're not going to distract me like this," Sam says.

"It's just..." Artie hesitates. "They always talk like I'm not really a man. Like I can't be. I don't know if it's because I'm more nerdy or because of the chair or what. Probably a little bit of a lot of things. It's actually gotten worse since we've started dating."

"Because of me? Why?" Sam asks.

Artie rests his cheek on Sam's shoulder, wrapping his arms around him.

"Because you're such a man. At least on paper you fit their ideal: the muscular blonde football star who dated the cheerleader and could provide for his family when they needed it. I mean you obviously lack the douchebag factor they seem to love, but apart from that I hear all the time that I should be like you. I love you, darling, but I don't actually want to be you. I want to be me," Artie says.

"Oh, well, um, I'm sorry," Sam felt bad. He hadn't meant to be the cause of even more awful behavior on the part of Artie's parents.

Artie shook his head and squeezed Sam.

"Not your fault. They're the nasty ones. You're the wonderful one. So don't apologize," Artie scolds.

"I'm glad you want to stay you, by the way. If you were me, I'd miss you too much that I'd have to become you, so if you were to become me you'd end up you again," Sam thinks that may make some kind of sense. "Anyway, I just want you to stay you."

Artie smiles, burying his face in Sam's neck. Sam reaches back to thread his fingers through Artie's hair. They stay like that for a while, Sam enjoying the little kisses Artie is placing on his neck.

"You're wonderful," Artie murmurs. "I love you. Let's get out of here. If my parents are still at work you can come in and we can have some fun."

"Oooh, are you hitting one of those really horny moods like the doctor said?" Sam asks.

Artie shifts a little and Sam's eyes widen.

"I'll take that as a yes then," Sam says, getting up.

* * *

They walk to the Hudmel's house so that Sam can drive the both of them to Artie's hopefully empty house. Artie stays mostly silent for the rest of the walk, kind of exhausted from the talk earlier. It wasn't the kind of thing he was used to, but he wanted to be able to have conversations like that because he knew how much it meant to Sam. Honestly, he even feels a little better. While Sam goes inside to get permission (a cursory measure), Artie starts getting into the car.

When Sam gets back, Artie leans in for a light kiss. Sam drives them quickly (but carefully, always carefully; Artie appreciates it) over to Artie's house. There are no other cars in the driveway, so either everyone else is out or else a car theft has occurred. Either way no one is going to be home.

They get out and Artie leads Sam to his room, turning around so he can wiggle his eyebrows to seduce Sam. He almost runs into a wall and Sam laughs. Artie manages to get in the door to his bedroom, though, and Sam locks it behind them.

"You've got to promise not to get pregnant though," Artie says as he gets up on the bed.

He pulls his shirt off and waits for Sam to join him, and when Sam doesn't, Artie looks up in concern. Does he look too strange already? Looking back down at himself, Artie doesn't think so. Just the same old scars. In fact, with just his shirt off and facing front, he looks positively normal. If when he's showing or whatever and Sam doesn't find him attractive, Artie will understand;

"Artie, you're gorgeous," Sam positively growls out. It sends a jolt of arousal to his already half hard cock.

After that, Sam joins him on the bed and Artie gets Sam's shirt off, pushing him back gently. He starts out by kissing Sam gently before licking his way down to his nipples. Once both of them are worked up into peaks, he makes his way unhurriedly down to the top of Sam's jeans. With a practiced ease, Artie undoes Sam's pants and pulls them down.

"Lube," Artie requests. Sam knows where it is and hands it to him quickly.

Artie lubes his fingers up and slips two into Sam's ass gently. They do this often enough that Sam knows how to best place his legs and stays kind of loose so prepping doesn't take too long. He stretches Sam, looking up to see Sam's face. Sam may be quiet, but he makes the best faces when Artie's inside him. Wanting to provoke some kind of noise, Artie swallows Sam down quickly.

"Fuck, Artie," Sam hisses out. Success.

He works Sam's cock while fucking him with a third finger. When Sam pulls gently at his hair, Artie buries his face in Sam's crotch to swallow his cum. Once Sam's finished, Artie kisses his way back up to Sam's mouth.

"Just give me a second," Sam pants. "You're too good at that."

"Sorry," Artie says, not sounding particularly apologetic.

"It's okay. It'll be a good death," Sam says.

"If you're going to leave me alone and pregnant because I keep blowing your mind, then no more blowjobs for you, just in case," Artie says seriously. At least as seriously as he can with his hard on pressing into Sam's hip and Sam's cum covering the inside of his mouth.

"That could be equally life threatening," Sam says, starting to move.

He pulls Artie's pants down, parts his legs and licks the precum off his tip before lubing his cock up. Using Artie's shoulders to help steady himself, Sam lowers himself slowly onto Artie's cock. Sam grins down at Artie, and Artie is suddenly very sure that his slowness isn't to help himself adjust, but to tease Artie. Once Artie is entirely inside Sam, Sam leans over to kiss him as he starts to move. Artie pushes his tongue into Sam's mouth to take over the kiss. He likes the taste of Sam's mouth, even with the salty tang of his own precum. When Sam starts playing with his nipples too, it isn't long before he starts cumming hard in Sam's ass.

Sam pulls off and lays down. Artie lays down next to him, pressing into his side.

"I swear Abrams, if you've knocked me up, you better put a ring on this finger," Sam says, sounding kind of serious.

"Well you've knocked me up already," Artie says cautiously.

Sam swallows hard and says, "Do you want a ring? Or something else?"

Artie sighs. He's already reached his emotionally trying conversation quota for the day.

"If we do get married someday, Sam, I don't want it to be because you felt guilty for knocking me up. We'll end up old and bitter. It'll be better if we wait until we're both a bit more mature and not under any pressure. As for what I want..." Artie leans up for a quick kiss. "I want you to keep being your wonderful self."

Sam nods and wraps his arms around Artie, holding him close.

"I'll do my best," Sam says.

Artie can't see Sam's face, but his voice sounds troubled.

"Are you okay with that?" Artie asks, shifting so he can see Sam's face a little better. Sam presses his lips together.

"I guess. It's just that us being married fit in with my little fantasy," Sam says softly.

"What fantasy?" Artie asks.

"That we'd be happy together- you, me, and baby," Sam says.

"We can still be that, though," Artie says, confused. Artie doesn't want to break up with him, just not get married yet.

"But we can't. I'll admit that the marriage thing wasn't necessarily the smartest idea, but I just wanted to be a nice and normal family. Perfect," Sam's voice is still soft. "But you were talking about not keeping the baby earlier and I...I don't know I got scared."

Artie pulls himself up so he can cover Sam's face with little, comforting kisses.

"You don't have to be scared. Whatever we do we'll talk about first. We're together in this, Sam," Artie says.

Sam smiles up at Artie and it's so happy that Artie just has to smile in return. Their smiles both fall as they hear a knock on the door.

"Boys?" his mother.

"Yes Mom?" Artie yells back, resisting the urge to bury his face into Sam's neck.

"Is Sam in there with you?" she says.

"Yes," Sam says.

"Sam, dear, would you like to stay for dinner? Such a shame for you to come all the way over here and not get anything out of it," his mom says.

Artie strokes Sam's cheek. He looks angry, and Artie would prefer to keep Sam and his parents from fighting. Why Sam always gets this angry when his parents are like this, he'll never know. Their adoration of Sam makes everything easier. They come home to a locked door and instead of getting pissed off, they ask Sam to dinner. It gives Artie a kind of grim satisfaction that what they're doing behind those closed doors would absolutely mortify his parents.

Sam raises his eyebrows to ask whether or not he should say yes and Artie shrugs. There are pros and cons to both, which Sam is well aware of.

"Sure," Sam says, sounding kind of defeated.

Well, that means no lecture on how to keep Sam from escaping at dinner. Maybe when Sam leaves though, depending on how the meal goes. It's really the one thing the entire Abrams household can agree on: Sam Evans is someone Artie should keep around. The difference is that Artie's parents seem to think that Artie's going to need to use some kind of trickery to get Sam to stay. Artie knows different.

* * *

When Mrs. Abrams walks away, Sam sits up and starts getting dressed. Artie pulls him back down.

"We still have time," Artie says softly.

"I just want to make sure we have plenty of time to clean up," Sam explains, feeling anxious.

Artie smiles and kisses his cheek before sitting up.

"Okay, if you want to get all cleaned up," Artie says, "I know they stress you out, so if you need a little clean up time, then we can clean up."

Sam grins and starts getting dressed again.

"Thank you," a thought occurs to him, "why are you always less stressed than I am?"

Artie shrugs as he starts getting dressed.

"I'm used to it more than you are, probably. Plus if you're here, we can talk about how wonderful you are, as opposed my various short comings or whatever is going on at my dad's work. I happen to like your wonderfulness. I don't mind talking about it all dinner. Plus dinners with you tend to be much more upbeat; they put on a nice show for you," he explains.

Sam just shakes his head.

"But it doesn't bother you that they talk like that?" Sam asks.

"Not anymore, really," Artie says. He looks like he's going to say more, but doesn't. Sam decides to let it drop because he knows that he's pressed Artie a lot today.

"But you're wonderful, too, okay? I don't want you to forget that," Sam says seriously.

Artie smiles and kisses Sam gently, "Yeah."

There's another sharp rapping on Artie's door.

"Boys! Dinner!" and her footsteps retreat.

Artie transfers into his chair and leads the way out to the dining room, while Sam follows behind, feeling somewhat nauseous. It's always the same when he eats dinner at the Abrams house: he's shocked by how normal Artie's parents look. Not that Sam knows what exactly what makes a typical family (is there such a thing?), but Mr. and Mrs. Abrams look pretty typical. They wear nice clothes and you can tell that Artie is their son because they look pretty similar. When it's just the two of them, from what Sam's seen walking in on them together chatting or making dinner, they seem to be a happy couple. If Sam hadn't known better, he would think that they are stunning parents.

Mr. Abrams stands up from his seat at the table and immediately comes around to shake Sam's hand. His handshake is a vice grip and Sam gets his fake smile ready. He'll need it all dinner.

"Sam, it's so nice to see you again," he says, "Artie hasn't brought you around too much lately."

"Well, I've been busy with football and Glee and stuff," Sam says.

"It's good you keep busy, Sam," Mrs. Abrams says, as she finishes setting the table. "This one just sits around the house all day."

"So sorry Mother, I'll try harder next time," Artie says, rolling his eyes at Sam.

"Son, watch you watch your tone," Mr. Abrams says.

Artie just nods. They sit down at the table, Artie and Sam on one side, facing Artie's parents on the other. He doesn't know how Artie sits across from them on his own almost every night.

"You're going to be starting to direct the school musical soon," Sam points out, "That'll probably keep you busy."

Artie is glaring at him like he's said something horribly wrong. Sam tries to think about what he could have said to make Artie upset. He quickly figures it out as both of Artie's parents shift their focus over to Artie, who seems to tense right up.

"What is Sam talking about?" Mrs. Abrams says coldly.

Artie tries to smile.

"I'm directing West Side Story, the school musical for the year," he says.

"We'll talk about this later," she says and turns her attention back to Sam. Sam can practically feel Artie relax a little as her gaze turns "Anyway, Sam, did you try out for the musical?"

"No, I would be too busy with football-"

"Of course!" Mr. Abrams cuts him off, "No time for musicals when you're busy with football! Got your priorities in order, I see!"

"Actually, I'm going to help Artie direct, kind of. Especially once football ends, I'll be available to do whatever he needs," Sam explains. This had always been their plan, but with the pregnancy it made much more sense.

Sam feels Artie slip his hand into his own. He chances a glance over and Sam recognizes that look. It's the look Artie gets when he's trying to contain himself. Artie's always been good at containing himself.

"Well that's very kind of you to do," Mrs. Abrams says.

"Yes, I'm very pleased to have an excuse to boss Sam around," Artie says and they grin at each other.

"Now Artie, you shouldn't be mean to poor Sam," Mrs. Abrams scolds.

"Artie's never mean, Mrs. Abrams," Sam says. "The opposite, actually. He's even helping me with some of my classes."

Mrs. Abrams purses her lips together as she gets up to clear their plates away before bringing in a cake for dessert. When Mr. Abrams distributes pieces, Sam ends up with a huge slice. He doesn't like to eat that much at one sitting, so he swaps it with Artie's smaller piece. Artie shoots him a grateful look. Happily for Sam and Artie, neither of Artie's parents choose to comment. When everyone is finished, he thanks the Abrams for the meal.

"It's been lovely seeing you again, Sam!" Mrs. Abrams says.

"Stop by again soon. Our dinner table is your dinner table," Mr. Abrams says.

Artie takes him out to the porch. Sam is seething with anger, because there's nothing he can do to fix this, but Artie pulls him down into his lap and he feels some relief.

"I'm sorry," Sam murmurs into Artie's ear.

"Don't be. It's nice to have dinner with you. Not every guy would sit through that for their boyfriend. I appreciate it," Artie says, kissing his cheek.

"I just wish..." Sam isn't even sure how to say it without him sounding incredibly cheesy, but he just wants Artie to be loved like he deserves to be, especially by his parents.

"I know. But I'm fine. I promise. You go cool off now," Artie kisses him again. "I have to go get advice on how to keep you from running off with the head cheerleader."

"I love you. I'm not leaving," Sam says.

"I know. They don't," Artie says. "I love you too."

Sam leaves reluctantly, and as usual after dinner at the Abrams, he doesn't sleep particularly well.


	6. Chapter 6

**For once I don't actually have too much to ramble about for this chapter, so I guess you get to just enjoy! Oh! Wait! The fic itself has officially hit over 20,000 words, even without my rambles! Yay!**

**Chapter 6**

The next day, Artie meets up with Sam in study hall.

"So last night I managed to get ahold of the office of the doctor we're supposed to see and get an appointment for Saturday. She's not a regular obstetrician, but something called a perinatologist, which I guess means she deals with high risk pregnancies," Artie explains. "I'm sorry. I know we had a date planned on Saturday, but it was the only time I knew we both had free. It'd be hard to get to the hospital by myself. Maybe we can go out after."

"Sounds good. Doctor appointment and then dinner after?" Sam says.

Artie nods and gets out an essay of Sam's to look over for him. Word catches most of his errors, but it doesn't catch everything, plus Artie offers structural suggestions as well.

"You don't have to go on Saturday, if you don't want to. Before you protest," Artie interrupts Sam's attempt at interrupting, "it'll probably be a lot of stuff about my paralysis. And that I'm male. I mean, you're welcome if you want to come, but it probably won't be too interesting. You know about my paralysis and you definitely know I'm male."

"Artie, I'm coming. You come to all my football games and I know you don't find them overly interesting. You even come when you have better things to do. And this directly involves me. I'm the baby's other daddy," Sam says.

Artie can't help but smile at that response. He's glad that Sam wants to come. Even though Artie has a lot of experience with doctors, that doesn't mean that he isn't kind of scared. His parents have let him deal with his doctors mostly on his own for a couple years now, so he knows in theory what to do, but before it had mainly entirely been about his paralysis, so it's all been similar. This, quite obviously, is very different, and Sam always calms him.

"Thank you," Artie says. "That means a lot to me. Although as it gets colder, I might not be able to go to all your games."

"You're just trying to get out of the rest of them," Sam says with a grin.

Artie shrugs and grins back.

"No, of course not. What ever could you be talking about?" Artie says and kisses Sam's cheek, "You know that I love the look of you in a uniform. Especially your football uniform. You're such a stud."

"Oh stop it," Sam says, blushing a little.

Artie shakes his head and yawns.

"Nap time for Artie," he says, leaning against Sam, "with his gorgeous Sam as his pillow."

He's out before he settles all the way into Sam.

Sam wakes him up later and he feels groggy for the rest of the day. The nausea hits him again in Glee. Just like the day before, it isn't too bad, but he is not looking forward to it. Since Sam has football practice, he stays long enough after Glee to kiss him goodbye. He rolls himself home slowly, letting the fresh air help ease the nausea.

* * *

The next couple days pass in much the same way. Every day they meet up in study hall, wherein Artie naps on Sam after discussing their upcoming doctor visit in detail. They try coming up with questions, but it's hard to do when they have all the questions. They split for classes and meet up again for lunch. Lunch goes fine, but Artie's morning sickness hits every day during Glee. By the time Friday hits, he feels so nauseous in the afternoon that he asks Sam to wait with him outside until it clears up enough for him to push himself home.

The next day, Sam picks up Artie for their appointment. Artie looks about as nervous as Sam feels. He kisses Sam on the cheek and holds one of his hands.

"I'm supposed to help my chances of keeping you by letting you do whatever you want with me and praying very hard that you don't come to your senses," Artie says with a dry laugh, "Dearest heavenly father, please prevent Samuel Evans from figuring out what's good for him and dumping my scrawny ass out on the street. Amen."

Normally, Sam would be aghast that Artie's parents basically told him to ignore his own wishes as far as what Artie wants to do with his body or be annoyed at Artie's mocking prayer, but he's too nervous. He just gives a halfhearted laugh and keeps driving.

"I have a feeling that you won't have to rely on prayer to keep me around," Sam says.

"Well, what a relief," Artie says. "Praying was never my strong suit."

They lapse into silence, Sam squeezing Artie's hand tightly. When they arrive, they check in and sit down to wait.

"Um, Sam?" Artie says weakly.

"Yeah?"

"You're squeezing my hand kind of tightly," Artie says.

"Oh, geez, I'm sorry Artie," he loosens his grip, "just kind of nervous."

"I understand. But if you do that every time you get nervous throughout this whole thing, my hand is kind of doomed. I'm sure I'll pay you back soon enough though," Artie says with a laugh.

It's awkward in the waiting room of the perinatologist. People keep looking over at them, clearly wondering why they're there. The muttering increases as the receptionist calls their names out and they go into the back together. The nurse takes Artie's height and weight, and then they're taken back to meet with their doctor.

She's already in the office and she quickly smooths away the startled look on her face when she takes in the sight of the two boys. Once she has moved around the table she holds out her hand to shake theirs.

"Hello, I'm Doctor Madison Nylund. And you're Sam and Artie?" she questions.

"Yes. I'm Artie, and this is Sam," Artie says.

"Well... I was expecting you to be a bit more female," she says to Sam. "Sam as in Samantha."

Sam points at Artie.

"He's the pregnant one. I'm the one who accidentally got him pregnant. Very accidentally," he says, looking at Artie, confused. Why wouldn't he tell her about their special circumstance? "But neither of us is female."

Doctor Nylund leads them to a little sitting area. She sits in one chair and Sam moves one of the chairs across from her so he can sit next to Artie. Once everyone is seated, Doctor Nylund gestures for them to begin to explain.

"When I tried to set up an appointment for us, the receptionist told me to stop wasting her time. So I called back and said it was a high risk pregnancy because of the wheelchair, which is a half-truth. But you should have documentation from a hospital in Kentucky verifying that I am, in fact, pregnant," Artie says.

She nods and shuffles through her papers.

"I'm guessing that since you're here, you two are planning on keeping the baby," she says. When they nod she continues, "So we have a couple things to go over this meeting. First, we need to go over Artie's medical history. Second, I'll have a few questions for Sam. Third, I'll give a general overview of the pregnancy, but you must understand that with your special circumstances there could be nothing typical about it. Lastly, I'll answer any questions you have. Plus I'll have a nurse draw some blood and set you up with another appointment in about a month."

Sam and Artie look at each other and nod. Artie slips his hand into Sam's as she starts asking him questions about his medical history, mainly his paralysis as Artie predicted. As usual, Artie answers in a cool detached tone. He stares at the wall behind Doctor Nylund and strokes Sam's hand with his thumb. The only time the cool detachment falls is when Doctor Nylund asks about his home life. Then, he kind of stutters around the question and brushes it off. Sam hopes that Doctor Nylund sees his little head shake. Sam doesn't care what Artie says his home environment is not okay, especially with the stress of pregnancy.

When she's done talking to Artie, she turns her attention to Sam. She has fewer questions for Sam, just mostly about his family's medical history and his own home situation. It doesn't take that long.

Then she begins to explain about what to expect in the next couple months. Sam's glad that Artie is taking notes at least because it's even more complicated than Sam thought. He had thought that really all they had to worry about was morning sickness. Then of course, when Artie got really big, he'd need Sam to help him around. But there was so much to take in: doctor's appointments, genetic testing, and caffeine (well, Artie wasn't supposed to take in caffeine). With Artie taking literally pages of notes, Sam feels inadequate as a boyfriend and a father to be.

When she's done talking, she calls a nurse in to take some of Artie's blood. Artie and Sam both ask a couple questions.

"...And I want both of you to have my personal cell phone number just in case. You have any questions, I want you to call that number, not the office. And while cramping during pregnancy is completely normal, if it gets severe and feels wrong, call me. If something feels wrong, Artie, I want you to call. Don't wait until morning or worry about interrupting something. I would rather you interrupt my sleep with false alarms every week than something serious happen and you be too worried to call me," she says sternly.

"Thank you very much, doctor," Artie says, shaking her hand.

"Really, thank you so much," Sam says, also shaking her hand.

"It's no problem, but I mean it. You call," Doctor Nylund says. "It's been a pleasure meeting you two. Good luck."

* * *

They have dinner together at one of Lima's fine, fine dining establishments. And by fine, fine eating establishment, Artie means a small diner between the hospital and his house. Neither of them is in the mood for anything fancy anyway.

"Not going to lie, I'm more scared now than I was before," Artie says.

Sam takes his hand and nods. "I know. Me too."

"It's all so much. I didn't quite realize it would be so much," Artie says, "Not that I thought it would be easy, but appointment after appointment and even more testing. And at the end of this all, there could be nothing. Nothing at all."

The doctor had told them there was a chance that the fetus would have two Y chromosomes. In that case, there was no way that the embryo would grow into a fetus. Doctor Nylund had predicted that Artie would get intense cramps. It wouldn't matter when they called the Doctor though because there wouldn't be anything anyone could do.

"Even if it ends in heartbreak, we'll still have each other," Sam says, "but yeah, the more this goes on, the less likely it seems that my idea of a happy family was actually completely delusional. Beyond delusion."

"No, listen, Sam..." Artie looks up at him and squeezes his hand tightly. "I need your optimism. I need you to believe that this is going to be okay, better than okay, delusion or not. I'm realistic to a fault. And that's good, some of the time. But I need you to remind me that not everything that can go wrong does. I don't know whether or not I can do this otherwise."

"Okay," Sam nodded, "When you feel like there's no chance that this is going to end well, I will tell you all about Artie and Sam, living in their perfect house together with their baby, Chewbacca-"

Artie had to cut him off to laugh.

"You're not naming our kid Chewbacca. You are not. If we have a dog in this perfect world, you can name him Chewbacca, but not the baby," Artie says, grinning despite his stern tone.

"But it made you smile. Admit it; you want to name the baby Chewbacca, if it's a boy. There's at least a little bit of you that wants to name him Chewbacca," Sam teases, brushing the back of hand against Artie's cheek.

Artie leans into the touch and kisses his knuckles.

"I plead the fifth. I plead all the fifths," Artie says, a nice warmth spreading through him.

"And I will take that as an admission of guilt," Sam says, "From that little crack in your anti-Chewbacca armor, I will eventually wear you down, and Chewbacca will be on that birth certificate."

In spite of himself, Artie is grinning and laughing, his earlier thoughts banished.

"You're despicable. I think that you just knocked me up because you knew that I was the only one in the world who you could possibly convince to name their child Chewbacca," Artie says.

"So you are convincible," Sam says, stroking his chin like a villain in some cheesy movie.

"I think that we should move on from this topic," Artie says.

"Now you're changing the subject. I take that as a good sign," Sam says.

They chatter on about names and fantasies, getting more and more ridiculous about it as time goes on. When they're done with their dinner, Sam drives around aimlessly until Artie has him stop at an empty parking lot. It's pretty late, so he's not worried about anyone showing up.

"Come over here," Artie says, tugging on his sleeve.

Sam crawls over to straddle him. Artie pulls him down for a slow kiss. He cups Sam's face with his hands and pulls him in even closer. It isn't too long before they have to pull apart for air. Sam grins down at him, and Artie can't help but smile back.

"I love you," Artie whispers.

Sam leans down and kisses him again. When he pulls back, Sam rocks his hips against Artie gently.

"You're so hard already," Artie says.

"Having a sexy boyfriend helps," Sam says.

"Does it really?" Artie asks, pressing against Sam's erection, "I think that you're going to cum in your pants again."

Before Sam can reply, Artie pulls him in for a deep kiss as he pushes against Sam's erection. It makes Sam squawk in a very, very manly way that makes Artie laugh into the kiss. Sam shoves him gently, but then he tangles his fingers in his hair. His groans get louder and louder as he gets close to cumming. When he cums, he's loud and it's right in his pants.

Artie strokes his face and gives Sam little kisses.

"Not in the horny mood?" Sam questions.

"Not really," Artie says, kissing him again. "I just wanted to be close to you. I like touching you and kissing you." The way that Sam shivers when Artie runs his hands over him makes Artie smile. "It's fun."

"I love you too," Sam says.

It ends up being kind of an awkward cuddle session, with Sam kind of squishing Artie and with Sam's legs bent in a way that could not possibly be comfortable. Artie lets himself get lost in Sam's optimism while he traces random shapes on Sam's chest with a finger. By the time they decide to leave, Sam has planned their lives together to their graves and Artie has tweaked each step of the process (Just as their child is not going to be named Chewbacca, they are not going to steal a TARDIS).

When Sam pulls in front of Artie's house, he bids Artie goodnight. Artie kisses him again before going into his house, aiming for his room ASAP.

"So did he finally come to his senses?"

Artie smiles and shakes his head.

"No, Mom, he's still as crazy as ever. I wouldn't want it any other way."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Artie's morning sickness gets worse two weeks later. Artie is just sitting next to him like usual one minute, and then the next minute he's out the door without saying anything. Sam grabs his backpack and runs right after him, ignoring the questions the rest of the glee club yell at them.

He finds Artie in the handicap stall of the nearest boys' bathroom. Artie is curled around a toilet seat, heaving into the toilet. Without being able to get up onto his knees, Artie has to pull himself up so he can throw up into the toilet itself, so while Artie doesn't have hair to pull back, Sam helps him support himself so he can put all his effort into puking. Between heaves, Artie slumps next to the toilet and Sam strokes his face. His skin is sweaty under Sam's fingers.

"Sam, I don't know if I'm ever going to want to eat again. Or move," Artie says weakly. He pulls himself back up to give a couple more heaves. "I think I'm done."

When Sam gets up to go get some paper towels, Artie pulls him back down.

"Not yet," he says, pulling himself into Sam's lap. "Sorry the floor is kind of gross."

"It isn't your fault," Sam says, wrapping his arms around Artie. "Unless you've been peeing on the floors."

Artie laughs.

"No, I haven't been peeing on the floors. A little vomiting though," Artie says.

"Do you want me to get you some water?" Sam asks.

"Not if you have to leave the bathroom," Artie says, snuggling into Sam's side. "Wait. I think I have a water bottle in my backpack."

Sam reluctantly sets Artie on the gross floor. He roots around in Artie's backpack for the bottle. Once he has it, he fills it up in the sink and wets a couple paper towels. As soon as he gets back he hands Artie the water bottle and pulls him back into his lap. Right away, Artie starts chugging, but Sam pulls the water bottle away.

"If you go too fast you'll get sick again. Or at the very least feel like it again," Sam explains.

"I'm just so thirsty," Artie complains. He takes one of the paper towels and wipes his face. "That feels better at least."

He takes the water bottle back and sips it slowly. Sam wipes the back of Artie's neck and forehead with the damp cloth. Artie leans back against Sam's shoulder, so Sam wipes his neck too.

"Sam, that feels so good," Artie says, moaning. "I'm not going back to Glee, by the way. It's almost done and I don't feel like answering questions."

"That's alright by me. I would rather stay here anyway" Sam said.

The bell rings to dismiss them and they wait a little to lessen the chances of running into anyone.

"I'm feeling much better now," Artie says, kissing Sam's cheek. "If this keeps happening, we're going to need an explanation as to why I keep barfing but am fine the rest of the day. What are the chances that everyone is ignorant enough that I can pass it off as something to do with my paralysis?"

"I think you've got a fifty fifty chance, to be honest," Sam says. "But cafeteria food could be a better excuse. It makes lots of people sick. You could just be having bad luck."

Artie nods and gets back in his chair. He checks the time.

"I'm sorry, but I've gotta run," Artie says, "Auditions are tonight. Can't miss them."

He pulls Sam down for a kiss on the cheek.

"Good luck. Pick a good cast," Sam says, smiling.

"Of course. I might call you later about how auditions went," Artie says.

"Good. I love you," Sam says.

"I love you, too," Artie says.

When Artie is gone, Sam splashes his face with some water to clear his head before practice starts. He realizes he has to start running if he wants to make it to practice on time.

* * *

Artie pushes himself down the hall as fast as he can so he isn't late for auditions. His stint as a director of the musical is going swimmingly already. While he had planned on getting to auditions early so that he could give a rousing pep talk to the masses, he just barely makes it in time to greet his fellow directors.

"Is everything alright, Artie?" Ms. Pillsbury asks with concern in her voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks," Artie says with a forced smile. It had been three weeks since he had last been in to eat lunch with her and she is still concerned about what he had said, he could tell. Not even Sam understands that he is perfectly fine with how things are at home. It isn't the best, but it could certainly be much worse, so he will be fine.

Coach Beiste calls out the first name and so begin the auditions. Some of them are cringe-worthy. Luckily, a couple Glee club members are trying out. Their auditions are all very well done, and he can tell there are going to be some debates later about where to cast everyone. After every audition, he thanks the auditionee for their time and lets them know that the cast list will be posted by the end of the week.

It's late by the time the last auditionee steps off stage.

"Let's meet in my office tomorrow morning to discuss casting," Coach Beiste suggests.

Artie and Ms. Pillsbury both agree, and all three of them get ready to leave. He has to run back to his locker to get a few things.

"Artie, I need to talk to you," Ms. Pillsbury says, "Do you need a ride home?"

He pauses and turns around, smiling brightly.

"No, thanks. I'm fine," Artie says, turning back around and continuing down the hall.

"Wait..." Ms. Pillsbury jogs down the hall to catch up with him and falls into step alongside him. "Artie, I'm worried about you. Will- Mr. Schuester, I mean- told me you've been sick the past couple weeks and that today you got so sick you have to leave."

"Cafeteria food," Artie explains, twirling his locker open and sorting through his things. "It isn't the best stuff, and I guess my stomach's been a little off the past couple weeks. I'm sure it'll pass soon enough."

Ms. Pillsbury doesn't look like she believes him, but nods anyway. They head back down the hallway.

"How have things been at home? Things didn't seem so great last time we talked," she asks.

He curses three-week-ago Artie and all the other Arties that have mentioned his parents to Ms. Pillsbury.

"Everything has cleared right up," Artie lies. "I was just exaggerating last time. You know how teenagers are. Sam even came over for dinner and they absolutely love him."

"And what does Sam think of them?" she asks.

Artie bites his lip. This one is harder because she could ask Sam.

"He liked them fine, I guess. With how nice Sam's parents are, I think most parents kind of pale in comparison," Artie says, knowing it sounds weak.

"Artie, I'm not an idiot. I can tell things are rough at home. For some reason, you don't want to talk about it, and I have to respect that for now, but I am always here to listen," she says, handing him a pamphlet.

"'So Your Parents Are Giant Assholes?'" he reads the title with a laugh in his voice, "Thank you, Ms. Pillsbury."

She smiles down at him.

"You're welcome. Are you sure you don't need a ride home?"

"Actually, I'd love a ride home, thank you."

* * *

When Sam leaves Artie, he runs out to the practice field. With Beiste at auditions for the musical, Finn runs practice.

"You're late, Sam," Finn yells out. "Five laps after practice."

Sam groans and gets right into the swing of practice. Even though practice is always tiring, at least it isn't as bad when Beiste isn't there. Beiste always works them hard. When Finn dismisses them for practice, Sam runs his laps and gets back to the locker room. Finn is waiting for him so they can ride home together.

"Sorry about that," Sam says, jumping into the shower to clean himself up quickly.

"No problem. I just had to give you laps so people wouldn't claim favoritism," Finn says as he finishes getting dressed. "How is Artie?"

"He's fine," there's a pause while Sam washes his face, "just got some bad food out of the cafeteria. You know how it is."

"Yeah, man, that food is nasty. Tell him I hope he feels better," Finn says.

"Sure thing."

Sam finishes washing up and gets dressed.

They arrive home without incident. Sam gets right to work on his homework. He doesn't want to have to cut his call with Artie short because of all the work he has to do. It's so hard to concentrate though. Between Artie and his family moving back home in just about a week, how can he be expected to think and write about 'The Crucible'?

"Everything okay?" Kurt asks.

Sam snaps out of his thoughts and looks up in surprise. He hadn't even noticed Kurt sit down, nonetheless spread out books and things of his own.

"What? Yeah, sure, everything is fine. There are just a lot of things going on. Artie, my family, football, school. It's just a lot of things up in the air and I'm worried I'm going to drop one," Sam explains.

Kurt tilts his head and frowns a little. "I thought you and Artie were still going strong. Does it have something to do with how sickly he's seemed lately?"

Sam does his best not to lie.

"I don't like not being able to help him, you know? He keeps getting nauseous and today he even threw up and there isn't a thing I can do about it," Sam explains. It's true enough. "I feel like I'm letting him down. I don't like it."

"Try giving him some of these," Kurt gets up and tosses Sam a box of saltine crackers, "They might help, but you should really get him to go to the doctor if this keeps up. And Sam, you're not letting Artie down just because he's gotten sick. Of course you can't fix it, but I'm sure that he appreciates that you're there for him."

Sam catches the box and gives the other boy a little salute with it.

"Thanks, Kurt," Sam says. "That means a lot."

"It's true, you two are right out of some dopey romantic novel," Kurt says, "and I know that whatever it is, you guys will get through it. Together."

Sam smiles and looks over at Kurt.

"I've liked living here. It's been great getting to know you better. It was great of you guys to pitch in like this to help me out," Sam says.

"It's been really great having you here," Kurt says, leaning in, "but I'm really glad that you're going to get to live with your family again. It's always been really obvious that your family really loves each other and that you guys should be together where you're happy.'

Sam's about to say something when his phone rings. "It's Artie." Kurt waves at him and Sam moves into his bedroom to take the call.

"Hey Artie! How did auditions go?"

Sam hears Artie groaning on the other side.

"Artie? Artie!"

"I'm here. My parents just had some ground beef for dinner and the smell made me sick. I didn't have anything in my stomach though, so I just heaved a little bit and they sent me to my room." Sam hears rustling from Artie's end of the line.

"Are you feeling any better?"

"Yes. I sipped some water, curled up in bed, and called you, so I'm feeling much better now," Artie says. "And auditions went well. I've got a couple ideas to make this a truly unique performance, and casting could be a big part of that."

"Can you give me a hint?" Sam asks, flopping onto his bed. "A little teeny tiny one, please?"

Artie laughs.

"You know I can't. No one gets to know until the cast list comes out. Plus I have to talk my ideas over with the other directors. I wouldn't want someone to hear our chatter and get their hopes up," Artie explains, but Sam thinks that's a clue in and of itself. The only people whose hopes could be raised and could be listening to them (or their boyfriends listening for them) are Kurt, Blaine, or Rachel, so at least one of them must be getting good news.

"You're such a tease," Sam accuses.

"If you're going to call names, I guess I won't tell you what Ms. Pillsbury gave me after auditions. Too bad, you would like it. Wait, you would love it," Artie says.

Sam groans and complains, "But you really are such a tease! Tell me, please? Don't make me beg," Artie stays silent, but Sam can hear him giggle a little. "Fine. I'll beg. This had better be good, Abrams. Please, Artie, please tell me about the fabulous thing bestowed upon you by Ms. Pillsbury. I'm absolutely dying over here. Please!"

When they both recover from their laughing, Artie says in a very serious voice, "Well I don't want you to die or anything, so here you go. She gave me a pamphlet entitled 'So Your Parents Are Giant Assholes?' after auditions. From what I've said about them, I guess she doesn't like them, and she asked about your opinion too."

Artie is right. He does like it.

"And what did you tell her?" Sam asks when Artie's pause stretches on.

"That with how awesome your parents are, no one's could compare, but she knew it was bull shit. So she gave me the pamphlet and told me that she was always there to talk," Artie says tentatively.

Sam sighs.

"Why don't you try talking to her? It could do some good, you know."

"Sam, everything is fine over here. My parents aren't abusive or anything, just assholes. I'm hardly the first kid to have assholes for parents. I'll be fine," Artie protests. "I am fine."

"It isn't fine, Artie. Last time I was there, your mother referred to you as 'that wheelchair boy' and thanked me for stooping down to your level to date you. I literally almost punched your mother. Or screamed at her. Or something," Sam says wildly.

"I know what my parents say about me, thank you very much. I was right there," Artie says coolly, "I don't need you telling me. And I also know that I am perfectly capable of handling this. If it doesn't hurt me, there's no reason why you should be getting upset. We have bigger things on our plates."

"I think it does hurt you though and I'm worried. You repeat things they say like offhand jokes. I know you Artie. I know how you look when you're pretending to be okay, but you aren't. And plus what do you think is going happen later on? Are they going to help you out when you need it? What about when the hormones kick in and you're emotional as hell? They'll tear you to pieces," Sam tries not to yell and fails.

"Yeah, well I'm sorry we can't all live in the perfect Evans family. You guys have problems, I know, but you all always get along perfectly. Not all families are like that," Artie yells back. "Some of us fight and yell, but at the end of the day, they're still my parents," his voice is cracking. "And I still love them and wish I could be what they want. I don't want to think about them kicking me out and I don't want to think about what new things they'll say. I just want to come as close as I can to being a son they'll love back. It's stupid, I know, but I can't help it."

Sam is stunned. That isn't what he expected Artie to say.

"Artie..." he starts, not quite sure where he's going.

"Don't," Artie says flatly, "Just don't. Goodnight Sam."

"Wait, Artie, I'm sorry. I just hate the way they treat you."

He realizes the line is dead.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Artie is never going to move again. He pretends it's true for a little bit, so he can save his strength for when he does have to get up and go to school in the morning because he doesn't like fighting and he especially doesn't like fighting with Sam. When he falls asleep, thinking about what the hell he's going to say tomorrow, he ends up having nightmares that he can't even remember in the morning.

As soon as he wakes up, he starts getting ready for school. His mom is up and going when he goes into the kitchen for breakfast.

"Was that Sam you were shouting at last night?" his mother asks.

"Yes," Artie says, getting some cereal.

"Has he finally found someone better?"

Artie sighs and looks for the milk in the refrigerator. It's up way too high.

"Mom, can you get the milk, please? I can't reach it," Artie asks quietly, steeling himself. It's a strange thing, but he has to have milk on his cereal. It tastes wrong otherwise. Anyway, maybe his mom will at least stop asking about Sam.

"Take it," she says, thrusting the milk at him and slamming the door shut. "You really should consider whether or not you need something before you inconvenience someone to get it for you."

"Yes Mom. Sorry Mom," Artie says, pouring himself some milk before placing it back in the fridge where he can reach it.

He pushes himself over to the table to eat his cereal, hopefully in peace.

"Artie. What about Sam?" If he hadn't known his mother, he would mistake this for concern about the status of a relationship that makes Artie incredibly happy. Instead it's "Whatever you messed up, you should go apologize before he smartens up and moves on. I'm sure there are plenty of cute cheerleaders just waiting to snap him up."

"Mom, Sam is gay. He isn't interested in the cheerleaders, and don't worry. I love Sam and he loves me. We'll work through it together. I know how to work our relationship," Artie says.

His mother's tone turns mocking, "You mean like you knew how to work your other relationships? Didn't both of them leave you? Wait- didn't they both cheat on you with better people and then dump you? You can't work your relationships any better than you can work your legs."

Artie swallows and keeps steadily eating his cereal. He refuses to react angrily.

"Sam and I are different," he says.

"You're such a child. There is no different. Especially for you," his mom sounds bitter, and Artie knows he's stupid for wanting her to feel better.

Artie nods and finishes his cereal. They are different, he reminds himself. Not just because of the pregnancy thing, but because they really get each other. Even from day one- no, before that, if day one is the day they finally got together- Artie felt that Sam understood him better than anyone else had. Not in some love at first sight kind of way (he didn't believe in that), but in a wow this guy is nerdy and sweet and cares even when he doesn't have to and is awkward in the good way and not the bad. Really he just wants to get to school so he and Sam can make up.

"Goodbye Mom," Artie says, when he sees Ms. Pillsbury's car outside.

Ms. Pillsbury offered him rides to and from school for play stuff, since it would disrupt everyone else's schedule. His parents aren't fond of having their schedules disrupted, especially on Artie's account.

His mom just waves him on with a shooing motion.

* * *

"Good morning, Artie," Ms. Pillsbury says as he gets in the car and collapses his chair to put in the back. When he turns to face her to greet her, her eyes widen and before he can say anything, she asks, "What's wrong?"

"Good morning to you too," Artie says, surprised at how perceptive she is. It's obviously going to be a day of honestly and feelings and Artie feels nauseous already. "I fought with Sam last night. We yelled and then I got so pissed off I hung up on him. Plus I didn't sleep well last night."

"Because you two fought?" she asks.

"Probably," he admits. "It doesn't feel right to fight with him. Some couples are all dramatics and fighting, breaking up and getting back together, but we've never been like that. Technically we broke up when he left over the summer, but that wasn't us. It doesn't even really count when you consider the fact that we stayed in communication almost constantly and neither of us even thought about anyone else."

"Are you guys broken up?" she asks.

"No. We're just angry at each other," Artie thinks about it for a minute, "Well, I'm not really all that angry with him. I'm angry at myself and my parents, mostly." He is still a little angry at Sam though.

Ms. Pillsbury nods thoughtfully.

"Maybe you won't want to talk to Sam about it, but you should. I'm sure he wants you to. Plus, you might not think so, but you'll probably feel better afterwards. At the very least because you and Sam won't be fighting anymore."

"Yeah. I want to try fixing it today. At least as much as can be fixed today. There's some pretty big stuff that can't be fixed per se, but as much as can be, will be," Artie decides.

She's looking at him in concern.

"Is everything okay? I mean not okay, but neither of you are being hurt, right?"

"It's... complicated, and I can't tell you about it yet, but no one is being hurt. When I can, I'll tell you all about it," Artie promises.

"Really? Artie Abrams promising to tell me all about something? Are you sure everything is okay?" she asks.

"It isn't that it's something bad. It's just something hard. We're doing it together though," Artie explains.

That seems to appease Ms. Pillsbury. They drive the rest of the way in silence

* * *

Artie is distracted while he's trying to help cast the play, but he still manages to lobby his case for his leads. He even promises to let Ms. Pillsbury and Coach Beiste cast the rest of the play just as long as he can have his leads to work with. Both of his co-directors look a little uncertain, but he also promises to handle any... unpleasantness and disputes that may arise as a result of their unexpected casting. Since Artie is so adamant and ultimately most of the scrutiny will fall on him, they let him have his leads and even let him help cast the rest of the play. When the casting is complete (and it takes all first period), they print the cast list out and give it to Artie to put up when he's ready.

He writes "Send all questions and concerns to Artie Abrams, director," on the bottom of the page and decides to hang it up after he talks to Sam.

* * *

When Sam passes Artie in the hall, Artie gives him a little wave and smile, so Sam knows that Artie is okay and that the two of them will be okay. Sometime between first period and lunch, Artie slips a note into Sam's locker telling him to meet him in an empty classroom during lunch.

Artie is already waiting for him in the classroom when he arrives with his lunch. He rolls forward, looking like someone kicked his puppy.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you. I know that I'm stupid for wanting them to love me like that, but I can't help it, and I wasn't happy about having to admit it," Artie says. "So I took out on you. That isn't fair."

"No, it isn't stupid. It's understandable. It's what we all want, and I'm sorry that I pried into things you didn't want to talk about," Sam says, closing the distance between them. Artie finishes the job and pulls him into his lap. Good. Now he's where he's supposed to be. "I just worry about you. A lot. They say such nasty things and I don't know how anyone can brush it off, especially day after day."

Artie bites his lip and nods. "I get that. If things were reversed, I would be worried about you. I guess I'm just kind of used to it at this point and it doesn't even seem like something to be concerned about anymore. People digging around it just kind of reminds me of how nasty it actually is."

Sam leans back against Artie, making sure he can still see Artie's face. It's closed off, but Artie doesn't look uncomfortable exactly. Just like he wants to be talking about something else.

"Maybe if things were normal, we could just talk it out when things got bad, and then you could just spend the night when you needed to get away. Things aren't normal though. Eventually, you're going to need a lot of help to get around. I don't know if your parents could do it even if they were willing," Artie and his parents are built similarly and Sam tries and fails to imagine either of them being able to lift and carry a very pregnant Artie.

"I know you want me to move in with your family when they get back- or at the very least get prepared for my parents to kick me out and make me have to move in with you- but I don't know if that will work either. Your house might not work for me. I know your room is on the first floor, but if there's no bathroom or only a half bath downstairs, I would be completely dependent on you to shower or pee. I don't want to be completely dependent on you for the next two years," Artie says. "I love you, but I can't do that."

Sam knows that much dependence for that long would make Artie absolutely miserable, probably more than being with his parents. The thing is Sam isn't sure about the layout of the house. It could be wonderful for Artie or else it could be impossible for him to maneuver around at all. He can't get into the house until his parents do, and he can't even go peer in the windows because the people living there haven't moved yet.

"How about you come over the day we move in? Then you can check out the house and we can come up with a good plan. Besides, everyone would love to see you again," Sam says. "They keep asking after you."

Artie nods. "That sounds like a good idea. There's no sense in worrying at this point. Either your house will work or it won't. I don't know what will happen if it doesn't, but I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

Sam kisses Artie gently on the cheek, and Artie pulls Sam in for a real kiss.

"I love you," Artie says softly. "And I'm glad we talked this over some."

"Me too. I don't like fighting with you," Sam says, kind of glad they had reached the cliché part of this conversation.

"Same here," Artie says.

"Life is hard enough without fighting with the people you love," Sam says, trying to keep a straight face when he realizes how pretentious he sounds.

Artie laughs at him and kisses his cheek. "My wise, wise boyfriend." He continues on to tell all about the casting session he had that morning and some of his ideas, omitting names so technically he isn't telling Sam who was cast. Sam likes listening because Artie's face absolutely lights up. The bell rings for next class and they part for classes until Glee.

* * *

Artie posts the list after he leaves Sam to go to class. He's waiting anxiously for someone to come up to him and say something all afternoon long. When he enters Glee, a little later than usual because he got held up by the hockey team, the room goes silent. He braces himself. The usual Glee time nausea doesn't help, but at least he doesn't feel like he needs to throw up, which is good because he doesn't want to run.

With no one saying anything right away, Artie decides to pretend there is nothing different about today so he takes his place next to Sam and kisses him on the cheek in greeting. Sam looks worriedly at him, but Artie smiles reassuringly and Sam looks less worried.

"Artie Tyrone Abrams what is this?" Rachel demands, waving the cast list in his face.

Did she really have to take it down? They only printed one off and now he was going to have to go to the other part of the school and post it back up. Artie plucks it out of her hands and pretends to examine it.

"This is the cast list for West Side Story," Artie explains.

"Well this can't be right! Did you see who was listed as Maria? Is this some kind of joke?" she asks.

"No. I casted who I thought was right for the part. Then I posted the cast list so everyone could check for themselves," Artie says pointedly.

"What's Manhands upset about now?" Santana asks.

Artie rolls to the front of the room to face his fellow New Direction members. "I wasn't going to make an announcement like this, but for those of you who haven't checked the cast list yet, we have made our decisions. Maria will be played by Mercedes. Tony will be played by Kurt," there's some chatter. When it dies down, Artie says, "All casting decisions are final. If someone is unhappy with their part, they can either deal with it, or else they should let me know so they can be replaced."

Once he's finished speaking, he waits to see if there's any argument, really just wanting to go back to his spot because the nausea has really gone up another notch. But of course there is argument.

"Are you really going to put on a performance at this school without me?" Rachel asks. "I demand to be Maria! I need it."

Artie takes a deep breath to remind himself that he is the director, but Mercedes' voice chimes in, "You are not going to give in to her, are you Artie? Because I am not going to be pushed aside again."

"Mercedes, you'll be marvelous in whatever role Artie puts you in now that he's come to his senses," Rachel says.

Before either of them can say anything, Artie yells, "Quiet!" and continues on in a much more level tone, "Mercedes will make an excellent Maria. Rachel, you can either play your part or leave the show."

"Then I'm leaving," Rachel yells as she stomps out.

Artie waves a little and goes back to Sam's side. "Kind of sick, but we can stay for the day," he whispers, kissing Sam on the cheek. Sam squeezes his hand and nods.

"Good job," Sam whispers back, and Artie knows he means dealing with Rachel and not that he isn't as sick as yesterday.

Once rehearsal starts, the chattering behind him ceases. Mr. Schue asks where Rachel is, and Artie tells him that she's dealing with some personal issues. After that, rehearsal goes normally.

They don't exactly flee afterward, since Artie has to congratulate his leads and accept their thanks, but they leave as soon as they can. They start walking to the Hudmel's house.

"Okay, next time you're going to do something to flip Rachel out, you have to warn me first," Sam says.

Artie shoves him playfully. "Why? Scared?"

"Maybe a little," Sam says.

"No worries," Artie pulls Sam into his lap. It slows him down, but he doesn't mind. "I'll protect you."

Sam smiles and pretends to swoon. Artie runs his fingers through Sam's hair.

"Then I'll be safe," Sam says.

The trust in Sam's voice warms Artie to his core.


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry this took so long from the last chapter I wrote a fic because FEELS (pimping out 'What You Deserve' Go now pls) and I had to pause this to do that. But now, tah dah! Chapter 9. **

**Chapter 9**

The week or two leading up to his family's arrival, Sam talks about little else. He's just so excited to get to live with his family again, but it's more than that. It'll be the first time in a long time that they're all living together like a normal family. No hotels, no wondering whether or not there would be food on the table or a roof over their heads. It would just be the five of them living together, like before the whole mess with his father's job. Well, the five of them and maybe his pregnant boyfriend. It is close enough to normal for Sam.

Once the day finally arrives, Sam wakes up early in the morning. He wants to be ready to help out any way he can. As much as he figures Stevie and Stacy will be eager to help, Sam thinks he just might be a little more useful.

Sure enough, after a group hug and a little bit of catching up, he's helping move boxes and furniture for the rest of the day. It's fun though. Every once in a while Sam stops and chats with someone, filling in the gaps of what he's missed. They fall back into old routines and it's nice to know that no one has changed that much.

When they're starting to get ready for dinner, Sam calls Artie to come over.

"Artie, do you want me to come pick you up for dinner? We're unpacked enough to live for now. It's going to be kind of a mess, but you're more than welcome to eat here," Sam asks when Artie picks up the phone.

"Yes, please," Artie practically begs.

It surprises Sam, who expected Artie to protest that he would be intruding.

"Is everything okay?" Sam asks.

"It's just been a long day. A long, tiring day," Artie says.

"I'll be right there," Sam says, grabbing the keys off the table.

Artie waits outside his house for Sam to arrive. He can't stay inside any longer. When he sees Sam driving up to his house, he smiles and rolls out to the driveway. Once Sam parks, he gets in the car and kisses Sam softly.

"So how is the house?" Artie asks.

"It's just amazing to be back together again. I really missed them. We're finally a family again... and it feels good," Sam says.

The excitement and happiness in Sam's voice thrills Artie. He's loved listening to Sam grow increasingly excited, and now that he's finally with his family where he belongs, he's absolutely ecstatic.

As soon as Artie and Sam get out of the car, they're practically attacked by Sam's family. Stacy crawls up into Artie's lap and gives him a big hug.

"Mommy said there's a baby in you. I thought you were a boy. Boys don't make babies. Does it have something to do with your chair?" she says. There's a pause and she continues, "But I want to be an Auntie so it's okay."

Sam tries to shush Stacy, but Artie figures he might as well get used to it. Plus Stacy just wants to know what's up. It definitely is a strange set of circumstances, and Artie can't possibly be upset at her for wanting to understand.

"Nope. I accidentally drank something I shouldn't've, and then Sam and I played some adult games," Artie is most definitely not going to give a sex talk to Sam's baby sister. Especially it was unlikely that she would ever need a gay male sex talk. "And then we found out I was pregnant, but I'm still definitely a boy."

That seems to satisfy Stacy, who nods and whispers, "You should name the baby Stacy if it's a girl."

Artie laughs and tells her that they'll think about it. Stevie is clinging to Sam, and Artie high fives him with a grin.

"And how have you been, Stevie?" Artie asks.

"Really good," he mumbles back, but he perks up when he says, "and now Sam is back! Now we can play catch and he can teach me how to play football."

"That's right. Stevie wants to grow up to be a football player," Sam says, grinning.

Sam's grin is infectious, and Artie can't help smiling back. That's one of the reasons why Artie loves being around Sam. His happiness makes Artie happier, even when he's upset.

"Dinner!" Mrs. Evans calls out.

Artie pushes himself over to the stairs up to the porch. They don't worry him as much because he knows the Evans will put a ramp in for him once they get settled a little more. They had done that in Kentucky and at first in Lima even before Sam and Artie had started dating.

He backs his chair up to the stairs once Sam has gone up them. Stacy doesn't get off his lap and Artie doesn't force her. When Sam starts bumping him up backwards, she starts shrieking in excitement. Of course, it's a really small set of stairs, or else they'd get up them some other way, but it still makes Stacy giggle.

The dining room isn't unpacked yet, so they eat in the living room.

"Thank you for having me over for dinner," Artie says, munching on his sandwich.

"I'm sorry that we don't have anything nicer tonight," Mrs. Evans apologizes.

"Really, this is great," especially since it wasn't making him nauseous. It had been less severe for a couple days, but some foods set him off. "These are the most delicious sandwiches I have ever tasted, and the company is off the hook."

"Thank you Artie," Mrs. Evans says with a laugh. "So, Artie how is pregnancy?"

She still looks slightly uneasy at the idea, but she also looks like she genuinely wants to know.

"Well, I've been having problems with morning sickness, mostly in the afternoon though. Sam's been good though. Especially when it gets... messy," Artie says.

"That's good. Sam, you take care of him. Even when it gets harder," Mrs. Evans scolds.

Sam sounds a little scared when he asks, "It gets worse?"

Mrs. Evans looks at him with a little smile on her face.

"Just you wait and see, son," Mr. Evans warns. "You've got a long, long journey until you've got another, even longer journey to start."

"Yeah, you better take care of me or else you'll be the pregnant one next time," Artie jokes. Sam's parents look at him worriedly. "That was a joke. This isn't happening again." Unless medical technology advances to the point where it's a bit more normal, Artie is never getting pregnant again.

Once dinner ends, Sam offers Artie a tour of the first floor. He shows him where the dining room and bathroom are, and then the yard. It's kind of on the small side, but it'll work. There are two bedrooms off the main part of the house, with two more and another bathroom upstairs. They haven't quite sorted out who will be in which bedroom, except that Sam is in the largest one downstairs.

He finishes the tour in his bedroom. There isn't a lot of room in his bedroom, especially with Artie's chair in it. Sam has been watching his face the whole time, but he still isn't sure as to what Artie will say. Before either of them says anything, Sam gets onto the bed and beckons at Artie to cuddle up with him. Artie joins him, crawling on top of Sam and setting his head on Sam's chest.

"You want to know what I think, don't you?" Artie murmurs.

"Yeah," Sam replies softly, "I really do."

"It has potential..." Artie says, and it raises Sam's hopes even though he can practically hear the but, "I don't think you realize just how much it would cost for your family to add in what I need to live here. It would be a burden even to a family that wasn't still recovering from financial problems. Plus I would be an extra mouth to feed. A mouth that's eating for two now."

Sam thinks about it, wrapping his arms loosely around Artie.

"I still have money saved up from the couple months I was away." Sam offers.

"No. You need to save that for after high school. Whether you go to college or not, you're going to need money. You worked hard for that money, at a job that you absolutely despised," Artie says.

"I can manage. I'm planning on getting a job anyway. Not the same job, but a job," Sam argues. "I'd be doing it as much for me as for you."

"You're unbelievable," Artie says.

"Is that a good thing?" Sam is hopeful.

"Not always."

"Really?" Now he's hurt.

"You're too giving," Artie says, shifting so he's hovering over Sam's face. "It's something I love about you, but you can't give me all these things. You could be giving up your whole future." His breath is hot on Sam's face.

"And really you're risking your whole life. The least I can do is make you as safe and comfortable as I can. My family is better off than you think, at least in this case. We're not going to be taking any extravagant trips anytime soon, but you need this," Sam argues. "Not only are you my boyfriend, I'm the reason why you're pregnant. We'll be okay."

"Listen, I might not even need it. My parents are assholes, but there's a fat line between being an asshole and kicking your son out of your house," Artie protests.

"I want to be prepared. Just in case," Sam says.

"Fine. You have to let me help though. _If_ it comes to that. I have some savings and I get a check every month because of my accident. As long as I can get ahold of my money, I can help out. Right now my parents have access to it, and I don't know if they would empty my accounts or something. Since I'm an adult, I can change that though..." Artie trails off, thinking. Sam lets him think, running his fingers down Artie's back until Artie shakes his head. "I'm too tired to run through everything now."

"Then just relax for now. If you can contribute then we can definitely do it. We can work on your banking stuff in the morning. There's time until you'll be anywhere near showing," Sam says.

"There's something else…" Artie says, nervous. He sits up.

"What?"

"This is going to sound strange, but can you look at my nipples?"

"What?"

Artie pulls up his shirt and looks downward with a puzzled look on his face. He rubs a nipple like he has no idea what a nipple is.

"They look different," Artie says firmly.

Sam leans in close. He's pretty sure he sees what Artie is talking about. His pecks look a little bigger. Touching the skin gently, it feels like the muscle is going soft, like fat.

"They do," Sam agrees.

"Why? Am I getting boobs or something? I did not sign up for boobs," Artie is very clearly upset.

Pulling Artie's shirt down and Artie into his lap, Sam kisses him gently. "It probably has to do with your pregnancy."

"No duh, Sam," Artie snaps, then softens his tone when he sees Sam wince. "I just really don't want to have boobs."

"Boobs are… nice," Sam says.

"You're gay, Sam. I thought you didn't like boobs," Artie says.

"I like Arties though. You're an Artie, boobs or no boobs. Actually, you're my absolutely favorite Artie. Like you said, you're still a guy. No matter what," Sam says. "Like I say, you'll always be sexy, no matter what."

Artie smiles a little. "You're just saying that."

Considering Artie carefully, Sam shakes his head. He pulls Artie's shirt off. With the utmost care, he licks and sucks Artie's nipples until they're hard peaks. Artie moans and writhes beneath his touch. Sam rests his head on Artie's chest and looks up at him.

"Okay, maybe you're not just saying that," Artie says, breathing hard. He smiles down at Sam. "I can't get hard tonight, sorry. It isn't working. Let me just-" Artie reaches down.

"It's okay," Sam presses his lips against Artie's, pushing his hand away. "I like just kissing you, too."

They stop and Artie spends the rest of the time curled up with Sam. His mind tries to run at a hundred miles an hour trying to figure out exactly how to make it all work out, but his mind isn't working, so he decides to make out with Sam a little more. He loves Sam and loves touching him and being touched by him.

Eventually though, he has to go home. He doesn't want to, but he gets back in his chair, says goodbye to the Evans family, and has Sam drive him home.

"We'll figure something out. I promise," Sam says with so much earnestly that Artie wants to cry. It must be the hormones starting to kick in.

"I know," Artie assures him. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

Sam kisses him and nods. Artie gets out into his chair. "Love you." He smiles over at Sam to reassure him that he'll be fine.

Artie doesn't sleep until the early hours of the morning, working out exactly how he could put his money in places where his parents can't get to it in case he needs it.

**Shhh just review it'll make me grin like an idiot. You know you want that. Plus it helps me know if I'm writing a fic or a train wreck.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Okay wheee sorry that this took so long to get up at least it's kind of longer than a normal chapter. Props again to Fi for listening to me go on and on about this love you Figgle =-***

**Chapter 10**

They decide to start telling people now that the Evans' are back. Artie wants them to do most of it together, but the first one he does by himself.

"Are you sure you'll be okay? I'll be right outside either way," Sam says. It's kind of sweet how he worries, especially since Artie's hormones have kicked in and sometimes he has problems getting through sentences.

"Yes Sam, I'll be fine," he assures him. "Ms Pillsbury is used to crying people anyway." He kisses Sam on the cheek. "Go eat your lunch though. I'll come find you."

Sam looks like he wants to stay, but Artie gives him a gentle nudge and Sam leaves. Artie turns towards Ms Pillsbury's door and knocks. She calls him in and he squares his shoulders as he enters.

"Artie!" She sounds surprised. "It isn't like you to make an appointment."

"Yeah well, I wanted to make sure that I had your time. It's really important," Artie says.

A pause stretches on and Artie realizes she's waiting on him. That makes sense.

"Well," Artie starts, thinking he should have talked to his mirror or something to help figure out what to say, "I'm pregnant with Sam's baby."

That's nice. Simple, direct, and for some reason Ms Pillsbury is looking through her desk.

"Here," Ms Pillsbury looks up from her desk and hands him a pamphlet. "You Think You're Pregnant But You Don't Have a Uterus," she reads to him.

"But Ms Pillsbury, I kind of do have a uterus, at least for now," at least Artie thinks he has to have something closeish now.

Another pamphlet: 'You Think You Have a Uterus.'

"Ms Pillsbury please, you have to believe me," Artie can feel tears start to form in his eyes. He's getting frustrated and upset and wow is he glad that these hormones are temporary. "Remember what I told you a couple weeks ago? That Sam and I were dealing with something difficult, but not really bad per se? Well... This is it."

"Pregnancy," she says, still disbelieving.

"Definitely pregnancy," Artie says.

She nods slowly.

"I don't have a pamphlet for that," Ms Pillsbury says. "Not for your situation anyway."

"That's okay," Artie assures her, "We've been doing some research and we have a doctor. We're going for another visit in a couple weeks."

"Do you know what you're going to do with the baby once it is born?" Ms. Pillsbury asks.

This causes Artie to pause. Sam hasn't brought up the subject again, and Artie certainly isn't until they have to. "Sam wants to raise it, somehow."

"And you?" Ms Pillsbury asks.

"I don't know," Artie feels the damn tears start to well up in his eyes and he knows there isn't anything that he can do to keep them from falling. He struggles with his thoughts.

"What would you do, if you could?"

"The same as Sam. Raise the baby with him," Artie's voice is cracking and the tears start to fall.

"Tissue?" She offers him one and he takes the whole box. "And what do you think will happen?"

"Something will go wrong," Artie says softly, "With me. Or Sam. Or us. Or... the baby. All of it will go wrong. How could it not?"

"You don't think there can be a happy ending for you three?" she asks.

"Not really. My parents are bound to kick me out because of an accidental pregnancy caused by experimental drugs! Then there's the whole being male and in a wheelchair and pregnant, and I still have to keep on top of my schoolwork and figure out what to do with this baby when it's born without wrecking Sam or anyone else."

By now, he's crying. Full out crying, and he absolutely hates it.

Ms Pillsbury gets up and crosses over to him. She kneels beside Artie, watching him carefully as she begins to stroke his hair. It makes him shudder a little. His mother has never been a comforter. Ms Pillsbury makes hushing noises in his ear and Artie relaxes as he stops crying. He wipes the tears away with his hand, sniffing a little.

"Pregnancy hormones," Artie says apologetically.

"It's okay, Artie. It's bound to happen," she says. "And while it's good that you don't have out of this world expectations, it's okay to have some. Even if you don't get everything you want, you can still have happiness."

Artie smiles a little and blows his nose loudly. "Thanks Ms Pillsbury. It's just so much."

"Yes it is. But you're not alone. You have Sam and his whole family. And if you need anything, you can call on me, or Coach Bieste too I'm sure."

"You're the first person, other than Sam and his family, that I've told. From now on, it'll be Sam and I doing it together," Artie feels much more in control of himself. "It's just that he doesn't come and see you like I do and I kind of wanted to do a little bit alone."

"Well, I'm very honored," Ms Pillsbury slips a glove on to dispose of his tissue and then tosses the glove in the trash as well. "I have confidence in you, Artie."

The bell chimes for the period to end.

"You come see me whenever you need a place to vent, okay?" she says.

Artie nods. "Thank you."

He pushes himself out. Sam is waiting for him in the hall.

"I just came here when the bell rang," Sam says, raising his hands up in surrender. "I swear that I haven't been waiting. Are you okay?"

"I am. She believes that we can do this, somehow," Artie pulls Sam down for a kiss. "Pregnancy hormones are a pain though."

"Do you still want to go ahead with Glee club today?" Sam asks.

"Tomorrow," Artie says, wearily.

It's too much for him to do in one day.

* * *

Sam takes Artie to his house after school and stays for dinner, cringing the whole time. He wants to shake Artie's parents hard, but instead he holds Artie's hand under the table and says everything he can to assure his parents that they're very much in love. Artie looks like he wants to curl up and die, and at the end of the dinner they retreat to his bedroom.

"Come here," Artie says when he's transferred into his bed.

Sam follows and sits next to him, but then Artie tugs him down so they're lying together. "You okay?"

"I guess. Today was tiring. You okay?" Artie asks.

"You're asking me?" Sam raises an eyebrow. "You're the one with a baby in you."

"Sam. You have needs and wants and bad days too. And I know my parents bother you more than me. Just tell me how you're doing okay?" Artie snaps.

"Okay. I'm fine," Sam says quietly.

"I just..." Artie sighs deeply, "I just don't want you to think you're unimportant in this, okay?"

"It's okay. We'll just find a balance. So that I'm not bothering you with every little thing but we can still talk," Sam says, kissing Artie softly.

"So how was your day?" Artie asks as he pulls back.

"Boring. No you at lunch, no rehearsal, no practice," Sam makes a face. "Just class."

"Oh no, you have to go to class at school!" Artie finally smiles at Sam and Sam can't help but grin back. "Well I'm glad you survived that."

"Thank you very much. I did it for your sake," Sam says.

"Was it worth it?" Artie asks with more seriousness than he should be.

Sam pulls him closer to kiss him gently. "Of course."

"I'm afraid I'm not going to be good company tonight. Telling Ms Pillsbury was exhausting," Artie yawns hugely.

"How opposed would your parents be if they woke up and you had a Sam in your bed?"

"How clothed would the Sam in my bed be?"

"Socks off, definitely. Maybe t-shirt or pants off too. Depends on what the Artie wants."

Artie presses against him. "So that would mean no shirt either because I like how your skin feels more than your shirt. Whatever you want on your bottom because I don't care. My parents would probably be overjoyed to see you in the morning though."

"I'll call my parents and tell them I'm staying over. At least with you pregnant my parents don't think I can get in too much trouble," Sam says, getting up to use his cellphone. He watches Artie get changed into his pjs as he talks on the phone with his family. They have him have short little conversations with both of his siblings, so by the time he hangs up, Artie is curled up in bed.

Sam peels his socks off and shirt. For his own comfort, he kicks his jeans off too. By the time that he makes his way back to Artie, his boyfriend is asleep. He smiles when Artie automatically pulls him close.

* * *

Artie wakes up slowly. As he wakes up he realizes that the dream he's having that's making him feel safe and warm is real. Sam is wrapped around him. Usually he stays buried under blankets until he has no choice, but most of his blankets have already been replaced by Sam.

He hears the change in Sam's breathing as he wakes up, but still doesn't say anything. Artie likes this little moment of perfection. Sam doesn't move too much either, just starts kissing his hair softly.

"I know you're awake," Sam murmurs. When Artie doesn't say anything, Sam just chuckles and keeps going.

His alarm goes off and Artie turns the awful racket off and turns to face Sam. "I don't think I'm going to be able to go to school today. I've come down with a bad case of some illness and you need to nurse me back to health."

Sam laughs and kisses him. "I would be honored to nurse you back to health, but I've got a big math test today," Artie knows that math is Sam's best subject, other than gym class, "and I need to do well on it."

"Fine," Artie says, pulling himself on top of Sam. He kisses Sam again and sighs softly. "Thanks for staying over. I love waking up like this."

"Me too," Sam agrees. "You're comfy."

"Is it selfish to want to steal you away?" Artie asks in a soft voice.

"I want you to steal me away, so it doesn't matter either way," Sam replies. "And I want to steal you too."

Artie's reply is cut off by his mom knocking on the door. "Artie! If you want me to take you to school you need to get moving."

"I'll take him," Sam calls back.

"Sam?"

"I am."

"And you don't like green eggs and ham," Artie whispers back to him.

"You're welcome to stay for breakfast. We're having waffles."

Artie makes a face. "We never have waffles. Say yes. I love waffles."

"I'd be happy to stay for breakfast," Sam says.

"They'll be ready by the time you get out of the shower," she says and walks away.

Artie gets up and starts getting his clothes together for the day. "I don't think I have any clothes that'll fit you. At least not well."

"I can wear my clothes from yesterday. Are you just keeping me around for the waffles?" Sam asks as he gets up and stretches.

"This is true," Artie says, nodding. "It's why I'm having your baby too. Trap you into a relationship with me so I can have waffles more often."

"I'm totally okay with this," Sam says. "Makes sense to me. If the situations were reversed, I'd do the same thing. Waffles are good."

Artie pulls Sam into his lap, putting his clothes on Sam's lap. Sam opens the door and Artie pushes them across to the bathroom. Artie's mom sees them and smiles.

"I'm waiting for them to admit that they want to adopt you," Artie says, feeling a little bitter, "I'm honestly surprised they haven't already."

Sam doesn't have anything to say to that.

Artie strips down and gets into the shower, beckoning to Sam who strips down too and joins him. He turns the shower on, adjusting the temperature. "Now this is what I'm talking about." Sam's crotch is right at his eye level. This isn't really unusual for them, but usually Sam has a few more layers of clothes on. Plus he has some wicked morning wood right now. He reaches out and grabs Sam's hips, pulling Sam toward him. Artie's mouth is wide open and takes Sam all the way in. Sam makes a surprised noise and nearly falls over before steadying himself and tangling his fingers in Artie's hair.

"Jesus, Artie," Sam whispers.

Artie grins at the noises he keeps making. He can tell that Sam is muffling himself, but Artie kind of wants to hear him yell so he circles a finger closer and closer to his hole until he's close enough to slip one in. The reaction is immediate. Sam yells out and tugs on his hair hard so hard that tears come to his eyes. "Your mouth..."

Artie swallows it when Sam cums, and then Sam gets onto his knees. "I'm hoping that this isn't just so I can wash your hair," he comments as Sam parts his legs. As Sam takes him into his mouth, Artie groans. "I'll wash your hair while you're down there anyway," he says, panting. Despite the fact that Artie is getting harder and harder, he manages to pour shampoo in his hands to start washing Sam's hair. Sam laughs around his cock. "That tickles Sam," Artie says, laughing too.

When Artie does cum, Sam swallows and grins up at him. "Sorry for tickling your cock," he does not sound repentant at all.

"You will be sorry," Artie threatens, continuing to wash Sam's hair roughly.

"I feel like a baby kitten," Sam complains, glaring up at him.

"Does that make me the mommy kitten?"

"Nope," Sam replies quickly. "You're the daddy kitten."

The response makes Artie grin. "Come up here," he says. When Sam is properly situated in his lap, Artie wraps his arms around him. "I love you," Sam kisses him.

"I love you too," Sam says starting to wash Artie's hair.

"That feels so good," Artie says, moaning. Sam has the best hands.

Sam doesn't say anything. He just keeps washing his hair and starts washing the rest of him. Artie is more than willing to let Sam keep touching him. Once Artie is clean, it's Sam's turn. Artie also loves to touch Sam, so he takes extra time to run the washcloth over Sam's abs and back. "You're gorgeous, Sam."

"Oh stop it," he protests.

"Nope," Artie says, pulling him back into his lap now that he's clean. "You're gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. My beautiful Sammy." He kissed Sam's shoulder. "But unfortunately we can't go eat waffles naked," Artie reluctantly turns the water off, but rests his head on Sam's shoulder. "We're going to tell the rest of the glee club today, right?"

"If you're ready, then yeah," Sam says. "If you're not, then we can wait a little bit. Not too long though."

"Then we're telling the rest of the glee club today," Artie decides. "You can talk and I'll be your gorgeous pregnant boyfriend whom everyone is jealous of," there's a pause. "Or I'll talk and you'll be my gorgeous un-pregnant boyfriend whom everyone is jealous of," there's another pause. "Everyone should just be jealous of the both of us." That satisfies him. Sam too, judging from his smile

They get dressed and Artie smiles at the smell of pancakes wafting in from the kitchen. He follows the smell over to their dining room, where his father and mother are sitting and eating their food. Bizarre because they never eat together, yet expected because Sam.

"Sam!" his mother says excitedly, "How nice to see you this morning."

"It's nice to be here," Sam says, rubbing Artie's shoulder. Artie looks up at Sam and grabs his hand. He likes being able to touch Sam wherever he wants in his house without worrying about anyone's reactions. It's nice that his parents aren't homophobes. Just Artie-phobes.

"You're always welcome here. Come on, sit down, we've made you waffles," Artie's dad says.

Sam sits down and Artie rolls up in his usual spot. Artie piles the waffles on his plate, while Sam gets a couple waffles of his own.

"Come on now, Artie, make sure to leave a couple for Sam!" his mom says. "A growing young man needs his food after all."

"It's fine, Mrs Abrams, really," Sam says, "Artie's a growing young man too." He looks over at Artie and grins. "I mean he's practically eating for two!" Artie practically spits out the bite of waffle he's eating. Oh geez, his boyfriend.

"Well, if you insist," his mom says, looking over at Artie as if she was wondering what he had done to get Sam to offer the waffles. Artie doesn't want to tell her quite yet that it involved sex and pregnancy, so he just munches his waffles extra loudly in her direction.

Breakfast proceeds much in that fashion- One of Artie's parents says something, Sam says something nice about Artie, and Artie grins smugly at them while also smiling at Sam like they're the happy couple they are. Artie knows that he's the happiest person in the house when breakfast is over. His stomach is full of yummy waffles and he's listened to his Sammy say all kinds of nice things about him.

"Goodbye Sam!" his mother calls out as they head out to Sam's car. "And you too, Artie!"

"Wow, you need to stay over more often," Artie says wryly as they get into the car. "The more you're around the more they have to pretend they care."

**Thank you for the reviews last time I had all kinds of Liz grins werking and also wow apparently people keep finding it because I keep getting more emails from saying people are following and faving it A+ **


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